Post by brian on Jul 15, 2019 11:46:45 GMT -5
Years ago I asked a question about node count on the original forum and never got a satisfactory reply. I was thinking about it again yesterday and was able to dig up this post on Houzz forum that explains it:
from:
www.houzz.com/discussions/1812338/question-for-dr-manners-re-node-count
From: malcolm_manners
Dave,
I think you have it right if I'm reading your question correctly. You start with the seed as node zero, and count up from there. When the plant makes its first side branch, say at node 14, the next node above that on the main trunk will be 15, AND the first node on the new side branch will ALSO be 15. So on a big old tree, there may be hundreds of node 4762. Each node "knows" and "remembers" its own number. If you bud/graft node 4762 into the base of a rootstock seedling, you don't change the seedling's node count at all, but when the scion grows out, it makes 4763, 4764, etc. on the scion stem.
The result of all this is that a seedling must grow rather far away from the seed to flower, hence the problem with flowering a seedling in the house. If you prune it back, you remove some node numbers. If you pruned to #43, throwing away nodes up to 100, when the houseplant resumes growth, it resumes at 44, NOT 101. So a constantly pruned house plant may never flower. And even an ancient seedling tree which has been flowering and bearing fruit for 100 years, if cut down and the stump resprouts, it will be juvenile again. The nodes never forget their numbers.
But this is also why the technique of air layering or rooting a cutting from the top of a seedling houseplant, and replacing the original plant with the new propagation is a good way to get flowers and fruit, eventually. If you take a cutting that contains nodes 56, 57, 58, and 59, root it, and make a new potted plant of it, it will resume growth at 60. So you've done away with several feet of stem length in the process of getting to the minimum needed node number for flowering.
I was wondering if it would be possible to cultivate zygote citrus seedlings to fruiting by staking them and removing all side branches (to save space) until the necessary node count is reached. I've always wanted to try growing new kumquat varieties but I certainly don't have greenhouse space to grow a bunch of seedling trees to maturity. It wouldn't even have to be a stake, could be some wire shape like
from:
www.houzz.com/discussions/1812338/question-for-dr-manners-re-node-count
From: malcolm_manners
Dave,
I think you have it right if I'm reading your question correctly. You start with the seed as node zero, and count up from there. When the plant makes its first side branch, say at node 14, the next node above that on the main trunk will be 15, AND the first node on the new side branch will ALSO be 15. So on a big old tree, there may be hundreds of node 4762. Each node "knows" and "remembers" its own number. If you bud/graft node 4762 into the base of a rootstock seedling, you don't change the seedling's node count at all, but when the scion grows out, it makes 4763, 4764, etc. on the scion stem.
The result of all this is that a seedling must grow rather far away from the seed to flower, hence the problem with flowering a seedling in the house. If you prune it back, you remove some node numbers. If you pruned to #43, throwing away nodes up to 100, when the houseplant resumes growth, it resumes at 44, NOT 101. So a constantly pruned house plant may never flower. And even an ancient seedling tree which has been flowering and bearing fruit for 100 years, if cut down and the stump resprouts, it will be juvenile again. The nodes never forget their numbers.
But this is also why the technique of air layering or rooting a cutting from the top of a seedling houseplant, and replacing the original plant with the new propagation is a good way to get flowers and fruit, eventually. If you take a cutting that contains nodes 56, 57, 58, and 59, root it, and make a new potted plant of it, it will resume growth at 60. So you've done away with several feet of stem length in the process of getting to the minimum needed node number for flowering.
I was wondering if it would be possible to cultivate zygote citrus seedlings to fruiting by staking them and removing all side branches (to save space) until the necessary node count is reached. I've always wanted to try growing new kumquat varieties but I certainly don't have greenhouse space to grow a bunch of seedling trees to maturity. It wouldn't even have to be a stake, could be some wire shape like
