A sapling growing apparatus includes: a carriage including racks in eight tiers and traveling along a circulation path in indoor space externally shielded from light and externally heat insulated; an LED mounted on the carriage and emitting light to the multiple saplings in a tray on the racks; a watering unit arranged in the indoor space and supplying water to the saplings in the tray; a water vapor generator and a cold air flow generator that creates given temperature and humidity environment in the indoor space; and an illumination management unit that creates light environment distinguishing between day and night artificially by turning on and off the LED. A large number of saplings are grown uniformly on a large scale while being moved in a circular pattern under the artificial growing environment.

A composition comprising an HLB-susceptible or tolerant citrus rootstock grafted with an HLB-tolerant or resistant citrus interstock is provided. Also provided are plants comprising same and uses thereof in citrus growth.

A composition comprising an HLB-susceptible or tolerant citrus rootstock grafted with an HLB-tolerant or resistant citrus interstock is provided. Also provided are plants comprising same and uses thereof in citrus growth.

A tree harvester includes a body and a harvesting system coupled to the body. The tree harvester further includes a control system coupled to the body. The control system is configured to receive data from the harvesting system regarding a characteristic of a harvested tree and control operation of the harvesting system based on the data. The harvesting system is configured to remove an intermediate portion of the harvested tree below a tree crown and graft the tree crown to a tree stump.

Provided herein are methods for providing improved vigor, and especially priming or improving root formation, of plant cuttings and to plant cuttings obtained thereby. Specifically, the methods include the steps of a) contacting a plant cutting with a polymeric solution, or suspension, optionally including one or more plant growth promoting and/or plant protecting compounds, thereby providing a coated plant cutting; b) allowing the polymeric solution, or suspension, of the coated plant cutting to solidify into a complexed coating, thereby providing an encapsulated plant cutting. The encapsulated plant cutting is coated with the complexed coating from the basal cut surface or tip of the plant cutting to less than 60% of the total length of said plant cutting to partially encapsulate the plant cutting with the complexed coating.

Provided herein are methods for providing improved vigor, and especially priming or improving root formation, of plant cuttings and to plant cuttings obtained thereby. Specifically, the methods include the steps of a) contacting a plant cutting with a polymeric solution, or suspension, optionally including one or more plant growth promoting and/or plant protecting compounds, thereby providing a coated plant cutting; b) allowing the polymeric solution, or suspension, of the coated plant cutting to solidify into a complexed coating, thereby providing an encapsulated plant cutting. The encapsulated plant cutting is coated with the complexed coating from the basal cut surface or tip of the plant cutting to less than 60% of the total length of said plant cutting to partially encapsulate the plant cutting with the complexed coating.

A hormone-free culture method for a citrus shoot tip is provided according to the following steps: (1) selecting a citrus branch to make an explant; (2) washing with sterile water after disinfection; (3) inserting the explant into a Murashige and Skoog (MS) solid medium and culturing to produce a branch with new buds; (4) preparing a Murashge and Tucker (MT) liquid medium solution, where a mass concentration of sucrose is 7-8%; (5) removing an outer leave of the new bud, cutting and taking a shoot tip, and inoculating in a liquid medium for primary culture; (6) selecting a seed of a trifoliate orange or a citrange and peeling off a testa; washing with the sterile water after disinfection; (7) inoculating a resulting seed into a test tube containing the MS solid medium and culturing in dark to obtain an etiolated seedling; (8) cutting a T-shaped incision and placing the shoot tip in a middle of the T-shaped incision to obtain a grafted seedling; and (9) grafting culture, and then conducting a secondary grafting in a greenhouse when a scion bud grows to 0.5-1 cm. According to the present invention, regenerated seedlings are obtained without using hormones, and the efficiency of plant shoot tip culture is significantly improved, which makes the method of the present invention widely used in different citrus varieties.

A hormone-free culture method for a citrus shoot tip is provided according to the following steps: (1) selecting a citrus branch to make an explant; (2) washing with sterile water after disinfection; (3) inserting the explant into a Murashige and Skoog (MS) solid medium and culturing to produce a branch with new buds; (4) preparing a Murashge and Tucker (MT) liquid medium solution, where a mass concentration of sucrose is 7-8%; (5) removing an outer leave of the new bud, cutting and taking a shoot tip, and inoculating in a liquid medium for primary culture; (6) selecting a seed of a trifoliate orange or a citrange and peeling off a testa; washing with the sterile water after disinfection; (7) inoculating a resulting seed into a test tube containing the MS solid medium and culturing in dark to obtain an etiolated seedling; (8) cutting a T-shaped incision and placing the shoot tip in a middle of the T-shaped incision to obtain a grafted seedling; and (9) grafting culture, and then conducting a secondary grafting in a greenhouse when a scion bud grows to 0.5-1 cm. According to the present invention, regenerated seedlings are obtained without using hormones, and the efficiency of plant shoot tip culture is significantly improved, which makes the method of the present invention widely used in different citrus varieties.

The invention provides methods of inhibiting the growth of a shoot apical meristem of a cucurbit rootstock plant, comprising contacting a shoot apical meristem of the cucurbit rootstock plant with an effective amount of a composition comprising one or more fatty alcohols, thereby inhibiting the growth of the shoot apical meristem of the cucurbit rootstock plant. The present invention further provides methods for preparing and producing cucurbit rootstock plants for grafting and methods for grafting. Additionally provided are cucurbit rootstock plants and plant parts and grafted cucurbit plants produced by the methods of the invention.

The present invention relates to a plant from the Capsicum family suitable for use as rootstock, capable of being obtained from the initial crossing of a Capsicum plant, preferably a C. annuum plant, with a Capsicum baccatum plant used as female parent, optionally followed by one or more additional crossing(s) with a Capsicum baccatum plant. Another subject of the present invention is a grafted plant constituted of a rootstock according to the invention and a graft. A further subject of the present invention is a seed, a cell or a part of a rootstock plant according to the invention. A final subject of the present invention is the use of a plant according to the invention as rootstock and a process for obtaining a grafted plant.