Pruning Shears

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Pruning Shears
Flowers are harvested with sharp knives or electric pruning shear. On standard carnations two to three nodes and on spray carnations three to four nodes are left on the shoots for the next flowering. Flowers should be cut in the early morning when plants are turgid. Standard carnations are harvested as open flowers or in the bud stage. Spray carnations are harvested with two flowers open and the rest showing color. Flowers are handled carefully to avoid breakage and bruising. It is important to expose flowers to a 40° to 48°F environment as soon as possible to reduce plant temperature. Precooling the flowers maintains quality and increases longevity.

Above all else, investment in a pair of high-quality pruning shears is mandatory. One manufacturer even has a special hand grip designed for left-handed people, swivel handles and a model with blade removal for maintenance. For miniature roses, there are smaller versions of these pruning shears which rely on a smaller, straight-edged blade surface. For removal of large woody canes at the bud union, a pruning saw will allow access for flush removal. Attempts to use pruning shears for these jobs usually result in damage to the bud union. It is best to approach cane removal with a proper saw designed specifically for the job. For cutting large-diameter canes a pair of lopping shears with 30- or 45-cm handles can facilitate the cutting without placing too much pressure on the hands. Again, attempts to cut large-diameter canes with pruning shears will require a lot of extra strength. Lopping shears with long handles solve the strength problem and make the cut clean and sharp. Invest in a small wire brush (about 5 cm wide by 75 cm deep) to help remove loose bark from the bud union. Such treatments can often encourage basal breaks and stimulate new growth since growth often finds it impossible to break through the heavy tree-like bark encountered on older bushes. Finally, save on profanities while pruning by buying a good strong pair of leather gauntlet gloves or hand gloves that are puncture-proof. There is nothing as irritating as a thorn under the nail to cause a string of words rarely heard in a rose garden!

Harvesting is done manually when the capsules are dry at the ends of the branches. Pruning shears are used to cut branches and also remove inflorescence containing 15–20 capsular fruits. Once harvested, the fruit are carried in baskets to a land or a warehouse where, after drying, they will be processed in specific equipments or manually. The machines separate the capsules from the seeds and classify them for subsequent packing in polyethylene bags, where they remain preserved for more than five years in perfect condition without any plant protection treatment (Cruz et al., 2008).

Human beings disseminate all kinds of pathogens over short and long distances in a variety of ways. Within a field, humans disseminate some pathogens, such as tobacco mosaic virus, through the successive handling of diseased and healthy plants. Other pathogens are disseminated through tools, such as portable mini electric garden shears, contaminated when used on diseased plants (e.g., pear infected with fire blight bacteria), and then carried to healthy plants. Humans also disseminate pathogens by transporting contaminated soil on their feet or equipment, using contaminated containers, and using infected transplants, seed, nursery stock, and budwood as mentioned previously. Finally, humans disseminate pathogens by importing new varieties into an area that may carry pathogens that have gone undetected, by traveling throughout the world, and by importing food or other items that may carry harmful plant pathogens. Examples of the role of humans as a vector of pathogens can be seen in the introduction into the United States of the fungi causing Dutch elm disease and white pine blister rust and of the citrus canker bacterium, in the introduction in Europe of the powdery and downy mildews of grape, and, more recently, in the rapid spread of sorghum ergot almost throughout the world (Fig. 2-20).

The primary fungi of an ambrosia beetle are abundant in a gallery only when larval stages are present (Kajimura and Hijli 1992). Thus, the best isolates of primary fungal symbionts can be made a month or two after initial infestation. Galleries are exposed by sawing thin sections from the infested bole. It is important to work as quickly and as aseptically as possible, using alcohol-flamed saws, wood chisels, and/or pruning shears. Adult insects can be removed, and visible fungal growth within the several-millimeter-diameter gallery can be isolated using sterile fine forceps. Thin slices or chips of galleries should be preserved, dried, and mounted, or mounted directly on slides with fixative mounting medium, such as lactophenolaniline blue, for later study.

Ambrosia fungi in the genus Corthylus and most Xyleborus species generally form a thick, whitish palisade layer on the walls of galleries if eggs and/or larvae are present. That fungal growth can be isolated easily by streaking or spot plating on isolation media (see next section on “Culture”).