Good ‘sports’ can be a lucrative garden find
More likely, though, genetic mutations of everyday plants are just weird looking
For many of us the word ‘sports’ is likely to conjure up images of football and hockey.
But not all sports are created by people. Plants can create an entirely different kind of sport that has nothing to do with exercise and competition.
From a plant’s perspective, a sport is just the result of something that went awry with its genetic code.
A BIT OF SCIENCE
In the plant world, the term ‘sport’ is a colloquial term for mutation. And while mutation might sound a bit creepy, it’s a natural phenomenon that occurs with all organisms when there’s a bit of a mix-up with translating genetic codes at the cellular level. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the results can range from innocuous to devastating for a plant’s health.
Typically, plant mutations aren’t passed on to the next generation of seed or tissue, but occasionally some are, and the results can dramatically change the look and composition of plants.
Sports are often the result of a ‘point mutation,’ which means that there was a ‘coding’ problem with one or perhaps a tiny cluster of microscopic plant cells, resulting in tissue that usually dies outright. But occasionally, the mutated cells survive and divide like regular cells, resulting in distinctly different growth from what a plant normally produces.
The ‘Ruby Red’ grapefruit is probably the most famous example of a sport. In fact, it dramatically changed the world
of grapefruit production.
Today’s mass production of Ruby Red grapefruit began when an astute grower noticed that a single sport branch had developed red-fleshed fruit. He removed the branch and propagated it from buds, resulting in thousands of Ruby Red trees — and its relatives — becoming the preeminent grapefruit varieties sold today.
Now, while grapefruit trees are rather rare on the Prairies, there are plenty of examples of sports that we grow in our gardens. Variegated plants — those with white or coloured patterns on otherwise green leaf tissue — are good examples, with hosta being one of the most famous on the Prairies. At last count, there were over 3,000 registered varieties of hosta, many of which are variegated.
Keep in mind that only a select few sports have the potential to become the next great commercial varieties. Some are just plain weird looking.
Each year, I receive many samples and photos of sports that have developed ‘fasciated’ tissue. Fasciated plant tissue might display a flower that looks like it’s been grafted with another flower, or shoots that are two to three times wider than normal.
This year, I was very excited to find a fasciated shoot on a cannabis plant among a sea of over 10,000 normal plants.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
You likely have at least a few sports in your garden because you bought sported plants at one time or another and planted them, so they can be treated like any other garden plant.
However, if you find a sport that was generated spontaneously in your garden, don’t be alarmed. Just enjoy it.
Many of these sports aren’t ‘stable’ and often are just seasonal visitors. On hardy trees, shrubs and perennials, these sports typically lack vigour and normally don’t survive through the winter.
And, of course, sported annuals die at the end of the growing season.
However, it’s worth noting that perhaps one of your apple or plum trees might develop a fruit that’s the commercial equivalent of the Ruby Red grapefruit. Sure, it’s a long shot, but there have been a number of valuable and stable sports that have become highly lucrative registered commercial varieties.
If you’re extremely lucky, professional sports could take on a whole new meaning.