Lab 1

• Propagation material should only be collected from plants that are healthy and vigorous
• Donor plants should be fertilized prior to tissue collection
• Humidity and water go hand-in-hand
• Moisture is generally the most limiting and urgent environmental factor
• Commercial plant propagators utilize intermittent mist systems
• Can replicate ferns via spores
• Sexual propagation occurs with a seed
• Asexual propagation results in genetic uniformity
• Propagation environment:

  • humidity
  • water
  • light
  • temperature
  • gas exchange
• Fogging systems maintain high humidity
• plant propagation: the purposeful production of new plants by one of many means
• Sexual propagation culminates the production of a seed
• Most seedlings are not identical to either parent plants
• Asexually propagated plants are identical to the parent plant
• Asexual propagation can lead to monocultures, which bring the risk of disease and insect outbreaks
• Factors to consider when deciding between asexual and sexual propagation:

  • health of parent plant
  • propagation environment
• Propagation material should only be collected from plants that appear healthy and vigorous
• Donor plants should be watered and fertilized prior to tissue collection
• Moisture is generally the most limiting and urgent environmental factor in the propagation environment
• Smaller water droplets can stay in the air longer than larger droplets
• Fern spores are in sporangia on the underside of fern fronds
• In class, we saw Staghorn Fern, Kangaroo Fern, and Bird's Nest Fern
• Open pollinated varieties produce plants that display characteristics of the variety (true to type)
• All heirlooms are open pollinated
• Hybrid varieties are genetically distinct from parental populations
• Seed collected from hybrids does not grow true to type
• cross pollination: transfer of pollen from anther of one plant to stigma of another plant
• self-pollination: transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma of the same plant
• The misting system reduces plant moisture loss, maintains humidity levels around plants, and helps to keep temperatures cool. 
• Genetic uniformity produces monocultures that increase the risk of disease and insect outbreaks and is important to produce identical trees
• Mist systems deliver water for short amounts of time
• Propagation does not have to be done in a protected environment