"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"Rupert" wrote in message
...
A load of bare rooted plants are about to be dumped on me from USA.
Some new DEFRA / USA regulations mean that they can not be shipped in
soil.
Any suggestions as to how Avocados (a few feet) should be treated on
arrival
to get them growing.
One suggestion is to cut leaves in half to reduce water loss but I would
have thought that this would result in a greater loss from the cuts.
As you can see this is not an area of my expertise

Just because they're bare rooted doesn't necessarily mean the roots
won't have been well soaked and packaged in some way so as to prevent
drying out - while at the same time still permitting examination. So you
may have no worries in any case. I believe it's also possible to use a
totally inert packing medium such as perlite. But I stand to be corrected
on that. All they're worried about are soil borne pathogens and being able
to ensure thet the roots are reasonably clean. To ensure roots
were truly "bare rooted" and bearing no particles of soil bore pathogens
at all, would require plants being raised in sterile conditions and
microscopic or forensic examination of all imports. Which is clearly
uneconomic.

This however can cut both ways - they can either be expected to exercise
a bit of common sense - or insist on applying senseless rules for
the sake of it.

I don't know where the cutting leaves in half suggestion comes
from. This sounds very dubious to say the least. If removing
foliage is thought necessary as a result of severe root pruning
in the case of disease for instance then entire stems would be
removed,

However if all the roots are intact, then simply shading the plants
for a few weeks to cut down transpiration loss would seem to be
the best bet.

If they continue to droop badly after that time then maybe have
a rethink. But as soon as the leaves firm up, start gradually
increasing their exposure to sunlight.


michael adams


Excellent -thanks just what I needed to know.