Water Deficit Treatment and Measurement in Apple Trees

Materials and Reagents

1. Woody plants (seedlings, grafted, or own-rooted)
   
2. Potting soil (MetroMix 360; SunGro Horticulture)
   
3. Water source for watering plants
   
4. ‘Play’ sand (can be obtained from any ‘home and garden’ store) washed three times with hot tap water and dried
   
5. Slow release fertilizer (Osmocote, Scott’s Miracle-Gro Products, catalog number: 19-6-12 N-P-K )
   
6. MS salts (Phytotechnology Laboratories, catalog number: M524 )
   
7. Sucrose (Phytotechnology Laboratories, catalog number: S391 )
   
8. Agar (Fisher Scientific, catalog number: BP1423 )
   
9. Myo-inositol (Sigma-Aldritch, catalog number: I3011 )
   
10. IBA (Sigma-Aldritch, catalog number: I5386 )
    
11. Nutrient solution (MiracleGro, Scott’s Miracle-Gro Products, catalog number: 24-8-16 N-P-K )
    
12. Rooting medium (see Recipes)
    

Equipment

1. 1 gallon plastic pots (or desired size to accommodate plants)
   
2. Plastic beaker for measuring soil
   
3. Aluminum foil (optional)
   
4. Small ruler
   
5. Oasis rooting cubes (Smithers-Oasis LC-1 Horticubes, catalog number: 5240 )
   
6. Conviron TC16 tissue culture chamber (Conviron)
   
7. Greenhouse or Growth chamber for maintaining appropriate light, temperature and photoperiod (equivalent to Conviron, models: PGV36 or PGW36 )
   
8. Scale appropriate for weighing pots with plants, (e.g. Weigh-Tronix, model: 830 )
   
9. Scholander pressure bomb (SoilMoisture Equipment Corp., model: 3005 Series )
   

Procedure