Nursery Surcharge Funds Industry Research

WSDA Nursery Research Fund Announces 2023 Funded Projects

The Nursery Advisory Committee was established to advise the director regarding the administration of the nursery inspection and licensing duties of the Plant Services program, and of the nursery research fund. A surcharge of 20% is assessed on fees collected by nursery retailer and wholesaler licenses for the purpose of creating a nursery research fund. These fees are used solely to support research projects which are of general benefit to the nursery industry and are recommended by the Nursery Advisory Committee. The committee consists of nine members representing the interests of licensed nursery dealers and the nursery industry. Each year the Nursery Advisory Committee awards funding to support research that benefits the Washington State nursery industry. Read on to learn more about this year’s funded projects.

Controlled Environment Production of Fruit Tree Planting Stock, $30,000 Project Manager: Nathan Tarlyn, Qualterra, Inc. (formerly NuPhY, Inc.)

Objectives: The overall objective for the project, which was started last year, is to Produce pathogen-free, true-totype apple, cherry, and pear rootstock material at an accelerated rate using our trademark MultiPHY™ propagation process and VertiPHY™ indoor cultivation system. Year 2 sub-objectives addressing the main objective, and the procedures corresponding to the activities required to complete each objective, are as follows: 1a. Optimize, and scale up, the VertiPHY™ process for each fruit tree species tested in year 1; 1b. Test the process on other nursery crops; and 1c. Test grafting in VertiPHY™ using cherry, pear, and grape as test crops.

Benefits to the Industry: Qualterra’s process for accelerated, controlled environment production of fruit tree planting stock and other high-value horticultural crops will minimize grower’s risk and cost, while producing clean planting material at an accelerated rate to traditional propagation methods. This streamlined process will offer growers and nurseries access to verified pathogen-free, true-to-type, field-ready planting material at a competitive price. The outcomes of this work can be translated additional perennial horticultural crops to enhance the sustainability and profitability of these production systems. This work will benefit the 2,500 cherry growers, 2,000 apple growers, 800 pear growers, and hundreds of growers of other high-value horticultural crops in the PNW, including grape, berry, and hops producers (please see letter of support).

Annual Tree Fruit Funding for CPCNW Operations, $80,000

Project Manager: Scott Harper, WSU CPCNW

Objectives: The goal of this project is to provide and perform ‘clean plant’ services, specifically the acquisition and introduction of commercially important public cultivars, the testing of these for harmful viruses, performing tissue culture or thermotherapy where necessary to eliminate these viruses from the germplasm, then storing this germplasm under protected conditions for distribution. Specific objectives are: 1. Receive and propagate new or replacement accessions and perform molecular diagnostics to determine virus infection status; 2. Perform virus elimination on infected public accessions and the backlog of proprietary accessions using appropriate methodologies; 3. Complete and release qualifying G1 accessions; 4. Retain public accessions in protected foundation collections, and retest to ensure continued G1 status; and 5. Distribute propagative material to nurseries and other propagators in the U.S. Pacific Northwest

Benefits to the Industry: The CPCNW is the sole clean plant center in the Pacific Northwest, and outside of Foundation Plant Services (FPS) at UC Davis, the only viable clean plant center in the National Clean Plant network that performs diagnostics, therapeutics, and foundation services for the national tree fruit industry. As Foundation Plant Services receives significant funding from California state-administered groups such as the CFDA-Fruit Tree, Nut Tree, & Grapevine Improvement Advisory Board, FPS is California-focused and stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest have either been restricted or unable to obtain the G1 propagative material that they need. Furthermore, given that FPS’s foundation is maintained in unprotected, outdoor conditions, and as demonstrated by the loss of their grapevine foundation to a vector-transmitted pathogen, there is a high likelihood that that source will eventually be lost.

With X-disease and little cherry disease running rampant through the PNW cherry and stone fruit industry, stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest benefit from having a local clean plant center that is aware of and attentive to the needs of the local growers and producers. To ensure a viable and continued supply of propagative material, and to ensure that the CPCNW is able to maintain its staffing, capacity and capability, additional funding from local sources to support day-today operations is needed.

Evaluating New Stone Fruit Cultivars for Western Washington, $7,728

Project Manager: Per McCord, WSU IAREC

Objectives: Establish a replicated field trial for new peach, nectarine, and sweet cherry cultivars at the Northwest; Washington Research and Extension Center in Mt. Vernon, WA; Evaluate disease resistance, vigor, bloom/ripening time, and fruit quality in western Washington conditions; and Provide information on cultivar performance to nursery industry.

Benefits to the Industry: With the expertise of the NWREC staff and the experience of commercial nurseries and the WSU stone fruit breeding program, we expect that the trees will be of high quality and well-maintained during the project, resulting in reliable data. It has been many years since a public stone fruit variety trial has been held in western Washington. We expect the trial will result in the identification of new superior cultivars adapted to local growing conditions. This data will give confidence to both retail and wholesale nurseries to propagate and market these new varieties. Superior varieties increasing sales and profit margins for high-value trees.

Cryptostroma corticale survival and sporulation, $15,000

Project Manager: Chastagner/Hulbert/ Elliott, WSU, $15,000

Objective: 1. Determine when sporulation of Cryptostroma corticale occurs in order to identify high-risk times for pruning, chipping, and other activities with infested material; 2. Determine the ability of C. corticale to survive and sporulate in wood chips; Objective 3. Eradication of C. corticale from wood chips using steam treatment. Time, temperature, size of wood chips; and Objective 4. Produce a Fact Sheet relating to the utilization of C. corticale infested wood and wood chips.

Benefits to the Industry: This project will provide information about the survival and seasonal sporulation patterns of an emerging pathogen, C. corticale, which poses a potential human health risk to landscape professionals that are tasked with the removal of infected trees in in ornamental and restoration plantings. These findings will be helpful for determining the optimum time and conditions for working with infested wood to reduce the risk of maple bark disease for workers and for spreading spores to other tree hosts in landscape and restoration sites. In addition, a steam treatment method for eradicating this pathogen from wood chips from infected trees will be developed, providing a tool for mitigating the potential risk of exposure to spores of C. corticale. This research will benefit landscape professionals and arborists that are involved in the removal and handling of declining and hazardous trees that are infected with an emerging pathogen.

Advancing Puget Sound Native Plant Propagation, $10,200

Project Manager: Jon Bakker, SER-UW Native Plant Nursery

Objective: The objective of this proposal is to strengthen the SERUW Native Plant Nursery’s science communication and industry connections. The SER-UW Native Plant Nursery aims to advance native plant production and interest in these plants with a unique combination of research, education and outreach. We have identified an opportunity to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of this production process by analyzing and reporting our propagation data through online platforms that are available to the nursery industry and interested members of the public. The requested funding would provide partial support for on the job training to for nursery management, production and communication to the industry.

Benefits to the Industry: The SER-UW Native Plant Nursery has already been conducting germination trials and recording propagation success, so the potential for successfully completing this project is incredibly high. This funding will allow us to to summarize historical trials, conduct new trials, properly interpret and analyze our findings, and invest time into outreach to ensure our findings reach relevant industry stakeholders. Our project will increase the understanding of stratification and scarification requirements and the duration of growth phases, allowing nurseries that propagate native plant species from seed to scale their production, reduce inefficiencies, and meet demand for native plant material. Further, our nursery has a unique and intimate relationship with the University of Washington, thus exposing staff and students to the importance of native plant production and training folks who may join the workforce of the nursery industry.