Three innovations in the plant world may offer pleasant surprises for farmers, backyard gardeners, and indoor plant enthusiasts.
Spraying chemicals for weed control has apparently run its course. The problem is that, until now, every pesticide application program for weed control has failed. This failure is expressed in the resistance of weed species to the chemicals meant to eliminate them.
Strains of the bothersome weeds suddenly appear that have developed resistance to the pesticides in question. To accommodate stronger pesticides for agricultural use, cotton, corn, and soybeans were bioengineered for resistance to one widely used pesticide product. Now you could spray your fields indiscriminately without concern that your crops would be affected by the pesticide. Yet eventually weed resistance was observed in these fields, too.
An artificial intelligence-generated solution was then devised for weed abatement where a minimum of chemical use was involved. A robot was created that could distinguish between weed and crop seedlings. Tens of thousands of images of cotton seedlings, for example, were laboriously photographed. These images were then uploaded into a robotic weeder that attached to a tractor. The weeder would scan every seedling in its path, ignoring anything that resembled one of the archived cotton seedlings. Meanwhile, a micro-jet of herbicide was directed onto each weed seedling. It was even conceivable that just as a robotic lawnmower could be used for cutting your lawn, a robot for weed control around the house could someday be put into use as well. The problem, of course, was that pesticide use was still a requirement for robotic weed control.
But now a biotechnological solution to weed control has been introduced that could at long last solve our problem with weeds. It has been shown that weed pollen subjected to gamma rays – when applied to the same species’ female flower parts – produces sterile seeds. Most of the work up until now has been done on Palmer amaranth, which is a major weed in cotton and soybean fields. A single Palmer amaranth weed growing in a cultivated field may produce between 10,000 and 60,000 viable seeds.
Successful application of irradiated Palmer amaranth pollen has been conducted on test plots in Israel and the United States with positive results. Imagine scattering irradiated dandelion and crabgrass pollen over your lawn and seeing these weeds cease to proliferate. (Note: Radiation to prevent bacterial growth on fruits, vegetables, and meat was approved by the FDA over 30 years ago.)
From weed control to insect control, a solution utilizing parasitic nematodes has proven itself as an effective remedy for fungus gnats, the most pesky indoor plant pest. Nematodes are not true worms but are sometimes referred to as roundworms because of their curved, roundish bodies. There are estimated to be one million nematode species with 15% of them parasites of animals or plants. They range in size from a millimeter to six feet in length, although the ones that parasitize insects are microscopic. In a juvenile state, their mouths are sealed as they wriggle through the soil eventually finding an insect larva or adult to penetrate through the victim’s mouth, anus, spiracles (air vents for breathing), or openings in their exoskeleton. After entering its host, the nematode poops out pathogenic bacteria that soon liquefy the host’s body. While we are on the subject, there is a bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis sups. Israelensis) that not only kills fungus gnats but mosquitoes as well. The above nematode and bacteria products are readily available through Internet vendors.
Utilizing nematodes for insect control is a science in its infancy. Nematodes have shown their prowess in parasitizing hundreds of insect pests and agricultural use of nematodes in protecting vegetable crops and fruit trees from insect predations has shown promising results. At the same time, nematodes can also be damaging to crops. The root-knot nematode is famous for infesting the roots of tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, and carrots, as well as the roots of papaya and peach trees, but corn is nematode-resistant. The live beneficial nematodes in Tip Top Fungus Gnat and Rootknot Exterminator controls the two pests indicated in the label as well as other insect pests that dwell or lay their eggs in the soil.
A Daily Breeze reader informed me of an innovation in the world of horticulture that brightened my day and may soon brighten my night as well. It’s the introduction of a plant that glows in the dark. To be precise, it’s a bioluminescent petunia with white flowers that goes by the name of ‘Firefly.’ The name appears to be an ode to the first bioluminescent plant that was engineered in 1986. A gene that manufactures luciferase — that confers the firefly insect’s ability to exhibit flashes of light in the dark — was inserted into the genome of a plant in the tobacco family that subsequently glowed. At the time, there was interest in the commercialization of the glowing tobacco plant but the light it created was rather weak and special plant food was needed to produce the desired illumination.
Interestingly enough, tobacco and petunia are both members of the family Solanaceae or nightshade family, so perhaps there is a proclivity among this group to accept bioluminescent genes. In the case of the Firefly petunia, the glow-in-the-dark gene comes from a mushroom, but no special fertilizer or growing conditions other than those on ordinary petunias are necessary. The light produced is not brilliant but definitely provides a moonlight-type of glow. Firefly petunias, suitable for growing both indoors (as long as they get plenty of light during the day) and outdoors, will be shipped from the Light Bio company in Sun Valley, Idaho, beginning in April. You can order them through the website at light.bio.
Speaking of genetic modification, the first food plant to undergo bioengineering and be marketed to gardeners is now available. It’s a purple tomato that was made by insertion of a snapdragon gene that produces anthocyanin, a purple plant pigment and anti-oxidant, into the genome of the tomato, another nightshade. You can acquire purple tomato seeds, from which you will grow large-sized, deep purple cherry tomatoes, at norfolkhealthyproduce.com.
California native of the Week: Four California native ferns are noteworthy and all will flourish in a shade garden. Deer fern (Blechnum spicant) is an incredibly lush species that grows slowly and looks wonderful in a hanging basket or container. Giant chain fern (Woodwardia fimbriata) has fronds up to eight feet long, although they usually are not nearly that big, making it the largest fern in North America. Western chain fern (Polystichum munitum) is more drought tolerant than giant chain fern, yet may reach a height of five feet under cultivated conditions. Last but not least, maidenhair ferns are among my favorite plants and the California native species (Adiantum jordani) is one of them. Maidenhairs are somewhat water needy, especially when they are establishing during their first two years in the garden, but are rather self-sufficient after that. Nearly all ferns have rhizomes and these four species are no exception. You can cut off pieces of the rhizomes — each piece with a few leaves attached — for propagation purposes.
Is there a new plant variety you would like to crow about? If so, tell me about it in an email to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments, as well as gardening tips or problems, are always welcome.