MAINTAINING A MOTHER PLANT
M
any gardeners have both a burning desire and a genuine need to preserve their prized plants. Some growers
want to share their best plants with friends; others want to
ensure they will be able to continue to grow those genetically gifted plants for years to come; and still others need
to ensure they will have superior genetic materials to use
in their breeding programs.
Regardless of the reasons why you want to preserve your
plants’ particular genetics, you have a few options. One
option is to try to keep plants alive for countless years.
Keeping plants alive is harder than it sounds; you can run
into insect infestations, pathogen attacks or just natural
senescence (the deterioration of cells from the aging
process). Some perennial plants have evolved to live for
extended periods of time, but trying to keep an annual
plant alive for many years is like trying to keep a human
being alive for centuries.
A second option is using tissue culture to keep plants
alive for extended periods of time without the risk of
attack by insects or diseases (when done correctly),
although this process requires expensive equipment, a lot
of time and some training.
“Mother plants are raised
solely to provide cuttings.”
74
Maximum Yield USA | December 2015