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nafex - [NAFEX] Girdling, ringbarking, bark inversion

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Girdling, ringbarking, bark inversion
  • Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:24:24 -0600

At 10:56 AM 11/30/2006, Richard wrote:
I believe cutting the bark halfway around the tree is called girddling. It's
not a very wide cut so that it will heal over and next year the trees can be
griddled again (at a slightly different place. This has been pacticed in
China for 100's of years on Jujubes. It's hard on the trees though and I
believe that with time the trees will be become stunted.

Several years back, Gordon Nofs sent me a transcript on an article on procedures used by Dr. Sax, former head propagator at the Arnold Arboretum; one of those procedures was bark inversion - removing a 1" or so ring of bark all the way around the trunk of a tree, replacing it 'upside down', and wrapping/sealing, as one would for a routine graft. This bark inversion technique interferes with normal flow of sugars/auxins produced in the canopy, back down to the roots, resulting in dwarfing, and inducing earlier or heavier fruiting - at least for a few years, until normal 'flow' is re-established.
Similar effects can be achieved by tying an overhand knot in the stem of a limber young seedling.

I've done bark inversion on a few pecan seedlings and a few seedling apples - makes for a fairly ugly burl at that site, but to date, I've not yet seen any nut production from the trees I tried it on.

I think I've still got the article, in its entirety. If anyone wants a copy, email me direct and I'll send it as an attachment.

Lucky







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