Parasitic design?

[dr.tenebris]

So this will probably be a stupid question but does anyone know a tree that is resilient enough to live with parasites (like mistletoe) for design?

The witches broom is a very compact and ramified internodes and I know that certain cultivators are developed using mistletoe but is there any trees that shrugs the mistletoes aggression off?

 

[dr.tenebris]

I'm thinking about using Loranthaceae (a tropic mistletoe) through careful management and by allowing the tree to grow in ground the Loranthaceae should naturally die out while hopefully effecting the genetics of the host enough to increase ramification, if I can figure out an ideal host with a rampant growth habit and recovery rate this may succeed.

My current thoughts for hosts would be bald cypress, crabapple, a flame ginnala or a Hawthorne.

I'll have to see about purchasing some seeds for the Loranthaceae as well as some young trees to test on... However this will likely have to wait until next year. In the middle of a move... If anyone has any books or links to good data or info for the mutation rate caused by mistletoe and or other parasites it would be very helpful!

 

[rockm]

Mistletoe is a parasite and can wind up killing its host, although that's not really common unless the host tree is weak and the infestation heavy. It is a pest on collected material, including western pines and some species from the American south. The living sections of mistletoe mostly embed their stems in the host plants circulatory system and sap energy. It is difficult to remove/manage because you really can't control its interior growth on the host.

C

Thread 'Mistletoe'

Mar 2, 2010

I acquired a couple of pretty decent lodgepole pine yamadori over the weekend and noticed one of them has a decent bit of mistletoe. Its not overwhelming the tree at this point but it is in several different brances. Ive done some research and everything I have read says to cut off the infected brances at least 12" below the site.

My questions are:

1. Is there any other method of eliminating mistletoe other than removing the branchs?
2. How far below the "sprouts" should I cut?
3. If I strip off the bark (basically creating jin) will that also stop the mistletoe?

I just hate...

• chrisbotero
• Replies: 8
• Forum: Miscellaneous / Other

Mistletoe – Parasitic Plant

Dwarf Mistletoe grows in the forests of Western America. It causes considerable damage to conifers and you should be familiar with what it looks like if you collect trees or buy collected trees. A…

rockymtnbonsai.com

 

[Melospiza]

Mistletoe often have preferred hosts or may even be host-specific. Don't see how a tropical mistletoe would grow on a temperate species. Mistletoe don't change the genetics of a host tree, they just weaken it.

Mistletoe and witches broom are not the same thing. A witches broom is a congested growth of part of a tree caused by a mutation or infection.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Mistletoe isn't usually the cause for witches brooms.
There are mites in the world that are hardly studied, they seem to be causing pine witch brooms. In Spain these were managed with a miticide that stopped the congestion of buds in later years. Along with non-specific viruses that edit the whole genome of the plant, potentially doubling or tripling some genes so that the plant over-produces certain hormones. Some bacteria and fungi, and even some wasps can do this (think oak galls).

Putting mistletoe on a tree is like playing with fire. At some point, it might get out of control and it's pretty difficult to get it to stop without endangering the whole composition.
If you want to induce mutations on plants, just buy a UV-C laser and start blasting your buds for a couple days. You might trigger something.
Same goes for plant hormones that one can buy online; there's a specific working dose, but upping that a thousand or a million times can have long lasting results. It can kill a tree, or dwarf it forever, or make it do funky things for a couple years.
I don't recommend any of these things, as I've had mixed results.. But there are better ways to skin a cat.

 

[dr.tenebris]

Mistletoe often have preferred hosts or may even be host-specific. Don't see how a tropical mistletoe would grow on a temperate species. Mistletoe don't change the genetics of a host tree, they just weaken it.

Mistletoe and witches broom are not the same thing. A witches broom is a congested growth of part of a tree caused by a mutation or infection.

Mistletoe isn't usually the cause for witches brooms.
There are mites in the world that are hardly studied, they seem to be causing pine witch brooms. In Spain these were managed with a miticide that stopped the congestion of buds in later years. Along with non-specific viruses that edit the whole genome of the plant, potentially doubling or tripling some genes so that the plant over-produces certain hormones. Some bacteria and fungi, and even some wasps can do this (think oak galls).

Putting mistletoe on a tree is like playing with fire. At some point, it might get out of control and it's pretty difficult to get it to stop without endangering the whole composition.
If you want to induce mutations on plants, just buy a UV-C laser and start blasting your buds for a couple days. You might trigger something.
Same goes for plant hormones that one can buy online; there's a specific working dose, but upping that a thousand or a million times can have long lasting results. It can kill a tree, or dwarf it forever, or make it do funky things for a couple years.
I don't recommend any of these things, as I've had mixed results.. But there are better ways to skin a cat.

I must have been mistaken in my research then I was under the impression that mistletoe was used to develop several mainstay cultivars in the nursery industry dispite needing to be grafted to root stock (little gem and other spruce specifically)

As for compatibility... Your probably right the tropical mistletoe likely won't take.

But the working theory within the nursery business was that the witches broom (which in nurserymen- text is generally caused by mistletoe) isn't necessary a full genetic change but a change made through stress to cause the expression of suppressed genes within the plant.

My thought process here was along the lines of selective breeding to isolate and exaggerate the expression of interesting genes typically dormant within our practice...

I am aware mistletoe is a serious pain to rid of, which is why I was wondering if there are trees that handle the infection better and/or can recover from the process of elimination of the mistletoe, certainly a BC with its healing and already being host to a form of mistletoe would likely be the best choice...

Likely a very poor idea I appreciate your thoughts!

I'll likely be unable to test anything as I'm not finding non-native mistletoe and I dare not be the start of an infestation... Maybe if I'm able to build a greenhouse to isolate in the future.