FOLLOWING IMPLANT

The present invention refers to a process for treating plants to be implanted, designed to treat explanted plants for a following implant. In particular, the invention refers to a process for treating plants, for example cultivated in a hatchery, which are explanted for protecting and storing them to allow their re-implantation in a field and/or a hazel field.

In the sector of plant cultivation, the need of protecting the plants is wide-spread, both in the re-implantation steps, and during the storage of the explanted plants for their following sale, and in the first step of engraftment of the transplanted plant.

Object of the present invention is complying with this need, by providing a process for treating explanted plants for a following implant, which allows protecting the plant both during the storage of the explanted plants and in the following implant .

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with a process for treating explanted plants for a following implant as claimed in Claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments, provided as a non- limiting example, of the process for treating explanted plants according to the invention, for example performed on a plant of the Corylus Avellana type; in a similar way, the process can be performed on other types of plants designed to be cultivated in hatcheries, in fields and/or in hazel fields .

The process for treating explanted plants of the invention comprises the following steps:

a first selecting step, wherein at least one plant to be treated is selected among the explanted plants; in a preferred way, a plurality of plants are selected, having homogeneous dimensional characteristics, in particular regarding the rooting and vegetative apparatus;

a pruning step, wherein a pruning is performed for resizing the rooting apparatus, together with a pruning of the aerial vegetative part of the plant (s) selected in the first step; for example, in case of plants of the Corylus Avellana type, the pruning is performed in order to obtain a plant having a total length substantially included between 20 cm and 200 cm;

a second, optional selecting step, performed if, in the first selecting step, a plurality of plants have been selected, in which groups are formed comprising a plurality of plants pruned in the previous step, for example each of said groups comprising ten plants;

an optional binding step, wherein the plants selected in the previous second selecting step are mutually bound, preferably in the part in which the rooting apparatus starts, to form a sheaf of plants;

an immersing step, wherein the aerial vegetative part of the plant selected in the first step, or of the sheaf of plants formed in the optional binding step, is immersed into a liquid paraffin for a time of a few seconds; in a preferred way, the aerial vegetative part of the plant (s) is immersed in a liquid paraffin for a time shorter than two seconds; in a more preferred way, the aerial vegetative part of the plant (s) selected in the first step is immersed into a liquid paraffin for a time shorter than one second; an example of paraffin usable for such purpose is given by Proagriwax G-Mediterranean of Norsk Vax, known to the skilled person in the art, some of whose characteristics are included in the following

Table :

Test Method Typical value

Freezing point ASTM D938 66 - 70 °C

Viscosity ASTM D445 13 -17 cSt

Penetration at 25 °C ASTM D1321 16 - 24 dmm

Penetration at 43,3 °C ASTM D1321 70 - 90 dmm

Drop point ASTM D3954 75 - 80 °C

Oil content ASTM D721 <2%

Colour Green a cooling step, wherein the plant selected in the first step, or the sheaf of plants formed in the optional binding step, is cooled in order to perfectly adhere the paraffin to the wooden part of the plant (s), protecting the gems from cold and wind; in a preferred way, in the cooling step the aerial vegetative part of the plant selected in the first step, or of the sheaf of plants formed in the optional binding step, is cooled; preferably, the plant or the sheaf of plants (or their aerial vegetative part) is cooled through immersion in water .

Optionally, the process further comprises an identifying step, in which the plant, or the sheaves of plants, treated in the previous steps is further identified by attaching a label on which, for example, its variety is included, or the number of plants, a logo, the Plant Health Authorization Number (C.A.C) , a QR code, and a packaging step in which the plant is arranged in a box for its refrigerated storage; if the treatment is performed on sheaves of plants, in the identifying step the sheaves of plants are identified by attaching said label, the plants included in each of said sheaves are bound on their tips and the sheaves are arranged in boxes for their refrigerated storage.

Advantageously, the process for treating explanted plants of the invention allows obtaining a plant ready for an implant, both manual and mechanical, protected against bad weather and structurally suitable for an implant with bushed vase or a small tree, therefore without Spring pruning (in the course of its first year) .