| Where
most fruit growers just feel content with planting the
traditional way, this garden buff has done something better.
Bernardo Dizon,
agriculturist extraordinaire, has engaged himself in the
past 20 years in growing and reproducing excellent seedlings
of almost all kinds of native fruit trees as well as some
imported ones such as oranges, pomelos and grapes, to
mention a few.
Considered a breakthrough in fruit tree propagation,
Dizon's method, called "inarching," involves grafting
another rootstock to an already budded plant. With the
doubling of the rootstocks, the plant's nutrient intake is
also doubled, Dizon said. Thus, an inarched orange plant
only takes a year and a half, instead of five, to start
bearing fruits, and continuously at that, Dizon said.
Lectures and actual demonstration on the propagation
method of inarching (tripod or double rootstock) are held by
Dizon in his fruit research center at the UP Bliss Economic
Garden on Don Marcos Ave., Diliman, Quezon City.
This is in an answer to the alarming lack of certified
orange seedlings of Satsuma, Navel and Pineapple oranges, as
well as Davao Pink and Thailand Sungsung pomelos.
Looking like a tripod, with one body and three root
systems, an inarched oranges tree bears fruit only after a
year-and-a-half. It is rendered non-seasonal by reason of
its reinforced nature, Dizon said, adding that the plant is
also able to withstand windstorms.
Dizon disclosed that the double of rootstocks may also
be applied to other fruit trees such as chico, mango,
rambutan, and also calamansi. |
