[NAFEX] Tree clones from different nurseries grow differently
Richard L. Wagner
rewagner at centurytel.net
Fri Aug 26 15:14:10 EDT 2011
Plants are not animals. They can not be trained to fetch, roll over,
and sit on command.
A more likely explanation is that the zones numbers are generalizations
that do not take into account a multiplicity of variable growing
conditions. Onset of first major freeze? Is it preceded by a natural
hardening off cycle or does it just come, ZAP, out of the blue. How dry
are the winters, this is in reference to my loss of persimmon trees
last season. A friend 20 miles north at higher elevation didn't lose
any trees but has zero crop this year. Do you have good snow cover? We
are in relatively warm 6b-7a so I doubt that temperature by itself was
the cause. We don't have any winter snow cover. It snows 2-3 times a
season, usually 5-8 inches, and all melts in 2-3 days. Here our
greatest problem is an early warm spring that causes trees to flush
with new growth, buds, flowers and then, ZAP, a dramatic freeze that
catches all the succulent new growth and sometimes causes major injury
or death to the trees especially young ones. When I lived in eastern
Oregon where it was a definite zone 5 we never had that problem with
false springs. When it was cold it stayed cold, enough to keep the
plants in dormancy, and when spring came it stayed.
All men are not created equal and neither are all zones.
Quoting Alexander Brands :
> > Miller isn't the only one making a similar claim. I believe St.
> > Lawrence does also.
> >
> > Raising in a colder climate is not going to change the basic genetics.
> > That requires changing the genetic combinations (genotype) generation
> > to generation combined with selection.
>
> This is true
>
> > The one thing growing in a cold
> > climate does is to provide the stress that helps identify which clones
> > are most vulnerable. In the absence of genetic mutations, naturally a
> > very slow process, it can only weed out the weakest but not increase
> > the strongest. Where the plant is grown is not going to make a
> > difference
>
> This may not be true. In animals, including humans, there is good
> evidence that the behavior and environment of an individual has an
> effect on the phenotype, or characteristics of the offspring. For
> example, the eating behavior of a person can have an effect on their
> offspring's propensity for obesity, an effect independent of genetics.
> Google "epigenetics". This is a relatively new field of study in
> biology, and it would not be surprising if more examples are found.
> It's not much of a stretch to suppose a similar effect occurs in
> vegetatively propagated plants.
>
> Alex
>
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