The Meristemming Process:
The entire Meristemming process takes 10-17+ months.
Basic Overview:
Meristemming and incubation: 4-8 months
Heat treatment: 6 weeks
Indexing for viruses/diseases: 3-6 weeks
Mass propagation for sales: 4-6 months
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APPROXIMATE TIME REQUIRED for EACH PHASE of the PROCESS
* Hand selection of superior plants each year. *****
* Grow out for Meristemming. -------------- 1-2 months
* Meristem plant cells in Lab------------------- *(Ongoing Sept.-Dec.)
* Incubate------------------------------------- 4-8 months (depending upon variety and vigor)
* Heat Treat all plants.------------------------ 6 weeks
* Indexing tests for latent diseases & viruses: 3-6 weeks
* Propagate for sale & planting.---------------- 4-6 months
***The process is repeated every year.***
Large Scale Propagation in Screened Greenhouses Harvesting Sweetpotato Cuttings for Sale Planting Cuttings and the Seed Fields Pictures of Sweetpotato Diseases Meristemming Removes Meristemmed Sweetpotatos Vs. Unmeristemmed Examples from an Independant Study Meristemmed Sweetpotatos vs. Unmeristemmed Crop List and Descriptions of Varieties Available Order Form |
The process begins with riding our own harvesters each year to hand select the best producing and uniform plants. As an added bonus, we begin each year with the best of the field and continue to improve upon those exceptional plants. Notice that there is very little waste in the field. This was our 2007 seed crop harvest which was planted with our own disease and virus free generation zero cuttings. The sweetpotatoes were uniform and highly marketable. Beginning with clean seed makes all the difference.
Plantlet in test tube. Incubation takes 4-8 months:
Hand-selected seed sweetpotatoes are grown out in heated greenhouses under optimum growing conditions and readied for meristemming.
The meristem tissue is placed into test tubes containing growth medium under absolute sterile conditions.
Heat treatment greenhouse
Indexing to confirm there are no latent viruses or diseases present.
Mass propagation of clean plants for sales/orders and for planting our own seed field. |
