USE CAUTION IN STORING NURSERY STOCK 



Wn 1 iam J , Braml age 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



Fruit growers sometimes receive trees too early for planting 

 in the field. This is especially true if the trees have been or- 

 dered from southern nurseries. In order to prolong dormancy of 

 the trees, it is convenient (and sometimes recommended) to place 

 the trees in cold storage rooms where apples have been stored, or 

 perhaps still are being stored. 



There is danger in this practice. One of the gases produced 

 by fruit during storage is ethylene, a very potent plant growth 

 regulator. One of the effects of ethylene is the breaking of dor- 

 mancy in many kinds of plant materials. It is possible that re- 

 sidual ethylene in the storage atmosphere might break dormancy of 

 the nursery stock and cause injury to the trees. 



A recent article from England reminded us of the reality of 

 this danger. Howard and Banwell ( Commercial Grower , 14 Nov, 1969), 

 from the East Mailing Experiment Station, reported losses of apple 

 and pear trees that had been temporarily stored in empty or nearly 

 empty apple storages. When the trees were removed from storage 

 they showed growths of soft, white callus tissue around buds and 

 at the bases and tips of lateral shoots, as well as callus-filled 

 cracks in the stem especially near the tip. When the trees were 

 planted they either died or else parts of them failed to grow, de- 

 pending on the extent of injury. Pear trees were especially sen- 

 sitive to this injury. Subsequent tests proved that the injury 

 was indeed due to ethylene in the atmosphere. 



Loss of nursery stock that was held temporarily in fruit stor- 

 ages has been observed before. In 1950, peach trees planted in 

 the college orchard in Amherst failed to grow after temporary stor- 

 age in a fruit room. Ethylene was suspected as the cause, and in 

 1952, a report from Geneva, New York supported this suspicion. 



obser 



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ey (19 

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roc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci 



60:104-108) 

 i njury 



el d in col d storage . The 



lar to that just reported from Eng- 



were filled with soft, white callus 

 ut the injured tissue shrunk and 

 that ethylene caused this injury, 



twigs upon removal from storage, 

 ized the potential danger to trees 

 little as 1 ppm of ethylene caused 

 rage was an important factor in this 



no breaks developed in the bark 

 F. and subsequent twig growth was 

 ks developed during the first week 

 ppm of ethylene in the atmosphere. 



