PRO-TECH Your Future                                                    

It’s our comprehensive root care system that ensures the virus-tested quality of our rootstocks.

Before 1930, few of the viruses that affect deciduous fruit trees were known.  Since then, over 50 viruses and virus-like diseases caused by mycoplasms have been discovered and isolated.  Some of these viruses and mycoplasms can infect and kill a mature tree in one or two years!...wiping out years of work and considerable expense.

To ensure a healthy orchard, the best answer is to choose healthy, disease-free rootstocks.  While this is obvious, how do you know the rootstocks you purchase are truly virus-tested?

For more than forty years, TRECO^® has utilized the most advanced scientific research, carefully controlled growing conditions and the most efficient cultivation techniques to produce virus-tested rootstocks of the very highest quality.  As a result, our rootstocks are produced in accordance with the rules established by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.  These plant materials are produced according to the rules and qualify for the Oregon Certified Nursery Stock tag, and are sold as a product of the program.

The Oregon Certified Nursery Stock Program is one of the most rigid and demanding programs of its kind anywhere.  Certification is an annual process, including visual inspection and testing by the Oregon State Department of Agriculture during the growing season. Plus exacting control of growing conditions in isolated seed and budwood orchards is maintained to completely contain disease, insect and weed propagation. Each rootstock is then registered with the state and is periodically re-indexed to maintain its virus-tested certification.

At TRECO^®, the system we use to maintain the virus-tested quality of our rootstocks is called Pro-Tech.  It is a comprehensive root care system that is your guarantee that our rootstocks are certified by the Oregon State Department of Agriculture to be the best you can buy. A 2% fee on every rootstock sold is used to fund this program along with other research programs, to provide the highest quality nursery stock available.

New Developments in Virus Detection                                  

Viruses that cause rootstock diseases are a serious concern for everyone involved in the orchard industry.  These diseases can be caused by a single virus or virus-like agent, as well as by a combination of viruses.  In recent years, certification programs have been very useful in reducing the incidence of harmful viruses, and new techniques for early virus detection are proving to be more effective as well.  The use of virus-indexed stock that has been indexed to be free of known viruses and subsequently re-tested for the presence of these diseases prior to distribution is an important initial step toward providing the best stock available.

Monitoring by visual inspection, together with specific field and laboratory testing, is another crucial step.

More recently, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test, known as ELISA, has proven extremely useful in virus disease detection. Instead of weeks, months or years, ELISA tests can be completed in only two or three days!  And ELISA techniques allow for a greater number of virus strains to be targeted for testing and detection. As more information becomes available through research, even more viruses will be added to the list of those that can be detected by the ELISA procedure.