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What girdling is?
In Girdling, also known as ring-barking, the entire circumference of a branch or trunk of a woody plant is stripped of its bark (consisting of cork cambium or "phellogen", as well as phloem, cambium, and sometimes even xylem).
Girdling can also be employed to push a fruit-bearing plant to produce larger fruit by forcing it to grow in size. If you want to remove the bark off large branches or the trunk, you can use a "girdle" (bark removal tool). Because of this, the fruit is the only sink for the sugars produced by the leaves.
Importance of Girdling
It was determined that girdling, also known as cincturing or ring barking, could enhance the yield and quality of kiwifruit plants.
New Zealand's commercial kiwifruit industry. For organic kiwifruit growers, it is devised the girdling of individual 1-year-old fruiting canes to boost the fruit size. Growers of conventional kiwifruit, on the other hand, quickly adopted the method. A few weeks after application of girdles and plants recovered completely. Girdling of the main trunks has largely replaced cane girdling. It has similar benefits, but is easier to apply, has greater responses, and has less variability in fruit qualities between vines.
What happens if girdling done too deep
However, if girdles were applied too deeply, causing injury to the xylem tissue, or if they were applied late in the growing season, there was a possibility of negative plant reactions. In each of these cases, girdles did not always repair before winter, and leaf canopy development in spring was slowed down as a consequence. As a result, the timing of the girdle applications was essential to the outcome.
Use of straps after Girdle
Belt like straps that are used immediately following flowering to enhance weight, while those used during the starch accumulation phase increase dry matter content and improve fruit eating quality, have been found to be effective.
Benefits of Girdling process
Autumn girdles increases vine bud break and bloom production in the following season. An interesting case study is the development of girdling for New Zealand kiwifruit growers. For even a relatively simple new technology to be quickly adopted by the horticultural industry, a substantial extension plan is required. if we look at the impact of girdling the trunk of kiwi fruit trees at different times of the year, we found different results
If girdling done Four times a week, the trunk was girded with a centimeter-wide band. As soon as the girdling treatment was performed in the middle and late part of July the fruits produced well. As the treatment was repeated each year, the effect became more pronounced.
On trees that had been girdled, the percentage of huge fruit was higher than on plants that were not. When it comes to fruit girdling, the earlier you do it, the bigger the fruit is. The annual treatment had a greater impact on fruit growth than the one-year therapy.
Fruit from girdled trees had a greater Brix value at harvest and after ripening. The greater the Brix, the later the therapy was conducted.
There was no significant difference between a single year treatment and an annual treatment in terms of sprouting percentage, flowers per last year's shoot, or flowers per bearing shoot They kept almost 100 blossoms every square meter of space.
Performing the treatment resulted in a reduction in the early elongation of current shoots in the year after the treatment. Trees that were treated annually had lower starch levels in the root throughout August and September than trees that weren't treated at all A portion of the starch content was reabsorbed during resting.
There was no significant difference in fruit maturity and storage between girdled and non-girdled plants.
Safety precaution of girdling
This practice has demonstrated that when an open wound heals swiftly under dry conditions, then the chance of bacterial invasion is greatly reduced. Because of this, keeping the girdle clean until it heals is essential. Using copper after the girdle and cleaning girdling equipment between vines would expedite the healing of the vine and reduce the danger of infection.
Conclusion
Many orchards practice girdling. Orchard operations such as girdling the tree's trunk and cane have been demonstrated to enhance kiwifruit flavor. By "ring-barking", the bark and cortical tissue are removed from the trunk (cordon) or cane. As a result, the sugars in the plant are diverted to producing fruit rather than to its roots. When it comes to girdling, it is done in the spring and in the fall. Girdling in the spring increases fruit size, whereas girdling in the fall helps increase dry matter content of the plant's tissues.
Fruits that have been girdled are larger and have a better flavor. In the orchard, girdling is a skill that can pay off for producers if it is used appropriately. In most cases, girdling is reserved for healthy trees that failed to produce well the previous year. Trees and vines can be killed if sapwood is damaged. After cincturing, trees usually rejuvenate in four to five weeks. The cut can be protected from fungi and insects by painting it.
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