The laboratory is replacing the potting shed

Over the past few weeks I have dealt with some aspect of the propagation of plants, and it’s  obvious to me that there is no part of a plant which cannot be utilized for propagation, for the simple reason that every living cell possesses the genetic information of its parents. Just as every living cell of we humans, possesses the genetic information received from our parents. Scientists are using this information to create the human embryo in a test tube.  This also applies to plants.  In many areas the potting shed has been replaced by the laboratory.

Now in point of fact plant breeders have known for scores of years that it has been possible to cross plants in order to create disease resistance, to increase flower size, and height, fruiting capacity and drought resistance. This takes many years. With humans many of the worst diseases that affect us may now be solved by identifying those genes that carry disease which are passed from generation to generation, and treating them so that they are unable to do this.

With plants, instead of taking years and years to breed a new rose, and even longer to produce       and select out a more desirable variety of orchid, scientists are able to reduce the time by doing all this in a laboratory. Moreover they are also able to produce new varieties of, say, wheat or any one of a hundred vegetables which are resistant to a host of diseases, or are able to withstand  different climates so that they may be grown in the driest parts of the world. What might have taken a hundred years or more to achieve by conventional methods is being done in a fraction of that time. Of course many people are concerned about such rapid progress in the human as well as plant areas, and the risk that it’s all being done too quickly. I suspect that people in parts of Africa, say, who face an uncertain future may welcome the chance to grow crops that provide them with food, and that those parents who carry genes which their children are going to receive and from which they will die are glad of any research which will prevent that happening.

In Guyana, gardeners are tied to more traditional methods of propagation, although there are signs that some modern laboratory techniques are being adopted.  I am thinking particularly of the meristem culture of orchids. Small flasks of orchids are now available which contain dozens of young plants that have been produced in a fraction of the time it took previously. So in a generation or two we have progressed from ten-foot long cuttings taken from a willow tree, ten-inch long cuttings of bougainvillea, cuttings just a few inches long from many of our most loved plants, down to single-cell propagation of virtually any plant you care to think of trying.  At all stages people are going to resist something that is new and untried.  A case in point coming to mind is that of the plastic pot which came to prominence in the 1950s.

In the olden days there was nothing so distressing as dropping a handful of pots after cleaning them.  Or even one large ten-inch pot which used to cost a small fortune to replace. The introduction of the plastic pot in all sizes gave great relief to most of us, and was embraced like the new Messiah.  After a while, however, it came to pass that all was not well with these pots.  They did not breathe like clay pots.   They remained wet for far too long, and plants languished in them.

This was made worse when we started using loam-free composts.  Composts that were peat based were quickly recognised as lethal, and ways had to be found to overcome these problems, and overcome they were.  For the commercial growers producing millions of plants, ways had to be found quickly.  It took more time for the private grower, and the perennial question always seems to be how much water should I give, how often, and when.  It never seems to change, as new generations of growers begin to take an interest in plants.  Cheer up, it can only get better.   Take care and may your God go with you, wherever you may be.