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This week I have added several new varieties to my olive orchard; sticking with my criteria they have all been dual purpose olives, suitable for table or oil. The photo above shows three Empeltre cuttings placed in virto today. The Empeltre is a Spanish variety, the majority of which are planted in Aragon southwest of the Ebro river. The Ebro river was known to the Romans as Oleum Flumen, which would translated as Oil River.
Also, I got buy on a very nice Manzanillo tree from a guy on eBay at a very reasonable price. In addition to the Manzanillo, I purchased a Chamlali and a Oueslati, both of which are grown in Tunisia. Soon I expect to have cuttings from those trees in vitro also.
The trees have been struggling in the greenhouse with the summer heat, so I decided to give them the summer outdoors, moving most of them to small deck behind the greenhouse.
In addition to moving them outdoors, I repotted each tree into a new soil mixture consisting of equal parts of builder's sand, perlite, peat moss and compost. Both changes have brought about a tremendous change in the health of the trees.
At this point I am regretting that I did not make the changes before I moved them into the greenhouse in the spring.
On June 7, 2014 I cut a single leaf from a miniature rose plant that Ava had given her grandmother last Mother's Day. The leaf was cut into several sections, which were then placed in vitro.
This is the very first time I have attempted a leaf cutting, so I really don't know what to expect. That said, one month later callus cells are beginning to form on the leaf sections, so I am hoping that soon new plants will begin to grow from the callus.
Above is one of the Picholine olive explants placed in vitro on June 13, 2014. At that time I had placed three explants in the same vessel, however, they began to grow so quickly that I have decided to separate them so each can have enough room, and media, to grow.
This is a photo taken on 7/4/14 of a single node Taggiasca olive explant that was placed in vitro on 6/15/14. I am finding that different varietals seem to respond differently. Then again, it could also be what the plant was doing at the time the explant was taken. It seems that the larger the immature nodes is, the faster the explant responds.
As a test, an explant was taken from a Manzanillo olive and placed in vitro. When the explant was taken, the node was very immature; it has been at least two weeks since the test began and the explant is still alive, however no growth is evident.
Contrary to what one might expect, the olives in the greenhouse are hardly growing at all with all of the summer sun and heat. They seem to put on spurts of growth in the late winter, early spring and fall. They certainly are a challenge to grow.
Several of the Arbequina explants are responding to the 427 protocol, however, the response has been taken considerably longer than the Tosca varietal. This explant was placed in new clear media today, and I can just make out adventitious roots developing on the stem.
Also today I started two additional Arbequina explants in an experiment to see if I can speed up the response. One explant is in the 427 protocol, while the other is in a protocol I will call 623. The 623 protocol contains more nutrients and an additional rooting hormone. This should be an interesting experiment indeed.
Two of the Tosca explants have been moved to stage 4 acclimatization. The plants may not have been fully developed and the move may have been premature, as some of the tiny leaves appear to be dying, however the stems are a healthy green and it may resolve itself.
One of the Gardenia vetchii explants had a nicely developed root system, so it moved it to stage 4, acclimation.
Using a sterilized mixture of peat and perlite, the plantlet was potted and placed into a domed container, to gradually get used to living in a normal environment.
Also today, explants were taken from Taggiasca and Koroneiki olive trees to be micro-propagated. So far, all of the olive explants in culture are responding to various degrees, but responding none the less.
A small section of branch was removed from the Picholine olive for cloning. After it was cleaned and rinsed the section was cut into three single node pieces that were then placed into culture media.
Rather than placing each explant in an individual jar, I have elected to use a single jar to save space and media. When, and if, the plants begin to respond they will be placed in individual jars for rooting.
The Tirilye seedling is almost entirely acclimated to a normal environment, at this point it is spending about 75% of its time in the greenhouse.
Today was transfer day for all of the olive cuttings taken on 4/27/14. A new batch of my #427 protocol was prepared, without any coloring this time. I have learned that coloring works for visually identifying the protocol, however, it makes it difficult to see what is going on beneath the surface. If coloring is added, it should be very light, just enough to distinguish the color.
Above is photo of a Tosca olive cutting that has now been in vitro for about seven weeks. At this point I regret that I did learn micro-propagation techniques much sooner and did not waste time, or resources, on traditional cloning. As is clear in the photo, the explant is developing a very nice root system.
Two ounces of protocol were added to each jar to give the plantlets plenty of room to develop a root system during this phase of the process.
The next phase of the process will be to transfer the plantlets to a sterile mixture of coir and perlite and begin the acclimatization process.
As of today I have several varieties responding to tissue culture, some better than others, however, I am certain at this point that all will be successful.
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