# Plant Girdling?!?!



## WalkedOnTheMoon (Jun 14, 2008)

Hey Guys,

I was doing a bit of research for one of my classes and found something that struck my interest and was wondering what you all would think. It's called plant girdling. Essentially the concept is to remove the phloem off of the plant to stop downward flow of photosynthetic sugars. It is normally used to kill plants, but some fruit growers girdle certain parts of the plant so the leaves cannot transport their sugars downward leaving the only place of the phloem to sink into the collateral fruits. They do this to create fruits many times the size they would normally. Has anyone ever tried doing this with bud? maybe on just a lateral stem? i found it rather interesting


----------



## pandabear (Jun 14, 2008)

WalkedOnTheMoon said:


> Hey Guys,
> 
> I was doing a bit of research for one of my classes and found something that struck my interest and was wondering what you all would think. It's called plant girdling. Essentially the concept is to remove the phloem off of the plant to stop downward flow of photosynthetic sugars. It is normally used to kill plants, but some fruit growers girdle certain parts of the plant so the leaves cannot transport their sugars downward leaving the only place of the phloem to sink into the collateral fruits. They do this to create fruits many times the size they would normally. Has anyone ever tried doing this with bud? maybe on just a lateral stem? i found it rather interesting


 
i bet no one has tried it, you should do it and make a discovery thread about it, it may make you famous. take pictures lots of pictures could do just like a lil test on a small part of your crop


----------



## marijuanajoe1982 (Jun 14, 2008)

hey man, there could be something to that! Like Panda said, test it out! It sounds like you must be taking a relatively advanced botany class, if this is a subject you are covering. Did you also learn or know of good ways to remove the phloem? It sounds like you are relatively advanced, after all, I think it was you that gave me a scientific name for my tripod plant. I think you should give this a try. Start small though, just a branch or two. Since this method CAN be used to kill plants, just be awful careful if you decide to try it out. Wouldn't want you to actually hurt your crop. Sounds very interesting though, I will look up this "Plant Girdling" you speak of.


----------



## WormSlayer (Jun 14, 2008)

It's an interesting idea for sure, though I've never heard of anyone experimenting with it.

FYI: If you google "plant girdling", this thread is the second item, right after the wikipedia entry 

Edit: Some people in Israel apparently did girdling tests on olives, results seem kind of inconclusive...



> [SIZE=+1]*The influence of girdling on flower type, number, inflorescence density, fruit set, and yields in three different olive cultivars (Barnea, Picual, and Souri)*[/SIZE]
> 
> _[SIZE=-1] A. G. Levin[/SIZE]_ _[SIZE=-1] A[/SIZE]_ [SIZE=-1] ,[/SIZE] _[SIZE=-1] C[/SIZE]_ [SIZE=-1]_and_ [/SIZE] _[SIZE=-1] S. Lavee[/SIZE]_ _[SIZE=-1] B[/SIZE]_
> 
> ...


----------



## WalkedOnTheMoon (Jun 14, 2008)

i'm going to try and get a cross section of the stem under a scope so i can tell how the best way to remove it would be. i guess in theory the more leaves on the stem you strip the phloem off of the more sugars going directly to the buds on the branch.


----------



## NewGrowth (Jun 15, 2008)

Super cropping would be the closest to what you are talking about. Girdling can only be done on trees as it involves removing the outer layer of bark to kill the tree or a branch over time.


----------



## WalkedOnTheMoon (Jun 15, 2008)

girdling can not only be done on trees... it is really only the process of removing a ring of phloem on a plant... the reason it is easier to do on trees obviously is because your phloem is part of your bark which just breaks right off, but i would imagine if you made a a cut all the way around at just the right depth, it is essentially the same as de-barking a tree.


----------



## nozthedon (Jun 15, 2008)

this is what people thought they did to acapulco gold to give it its color but it was just the plants genes


----------



## NewGrowth (Jun 15, 2008)

WalkedOnTheMoon said:


> girdling can not only be done on trees... it is really only the process of removing a ring of phloem on a plant... the reason it is easier to do on trees obviously is because your phloem is part of your bark which just breaks right off, but i would imagine if you made a a cut all the way around at just the right depth, it is essentially the same as de-barking a tree.


It would be like micro surgery on something other than a tree so yeah it might be possible but no one is doing it on anything other then woody plants.


----------



## fdd2blk (Jun 15, 2008)

NewGrowth said:


> It would be like micro surgery on something other than a tree so yeah it might be possible but no one is doing it on anything other then woody plants.


just grow a woody plant. 

never say never.


----------



## NewGrowth (Jun 15, 2008)

fdd2blk said:


> just grow a woody plant. View attachment 134271
> 
> never say never.


Haha


----------

