Tissue Culture Plants?

[cyclonenat]

Do you know if any fruit plants are grown this way as they are allowed into NZ like this

[fruitlovers]

Do you know if any fruit plants are grown this way as they are allowed into NZ like this

Some that are TC'ed are banana, pineapple, coconut. Banana is the most commonly tissue cultured fruiting plant. Tissue culturing is more commonly and widely used for flowering plants, like orchids.

[simon_grow]

I believe Papaya is also tissue cultured.
Simon

[fyliu]

What I've heard plant collectors do is they carry a kit for extracting, sterilizing and storing plant meristems. They show the test tubes with growing plantlets in them to customs agents in Los Angeles and pass right through.

[cyclonenat]

who does it? that would be awesome

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

Hi Cyclonenat,

Tissue culture is like baking a cake...as long as you follow the recipe, your good for it One banana sucker can create 200 banana plant that are free of disease and with the added nutrients from the culture, they are very fast growing and the bunches are huge and uniform. I have both tissue cultured papaya and bananas in the orchard and they are very fast growing.

MATF - Banana tissue culture in action

[cyclonenat]

Where can i buy some fruit trees seedlings like this? Thanks everyone

[fruitlovers]

What I've heard plant collectors do is they carry a kit for extracting, sterilizing and storing plant meristems. They show the test tubes with growing plantlets in them to customs agents in Los Angeles and pass right through.

You should note that just because a plant is tissue cultured doesn't guarantee it will sail right through customs. For example, if a plant is on the prohibited list, like coconuts into USA, even bringing tissue cultured coconut plants is prohibited. Apparently even TC plants can potentially carry disease.

[fyliu]

Yeah, tissue culture doesn't mean disease-free. It's just mostly bacteria and fungi-free. It could be somewhat more reassuring to customs that you're not bringing in bad organisms.

[Future]

Where can i buy some fruit trees seedlings like this? Thanks everyone

I second this question.

[Future]

Spoke to my plant protection officer and was surprised to find out that many germplasm collections are indeed infected with viruses and bacteria and as such bananas cannot be imported to my country whether they are tissue cultured or not.  Since the 1930s.