DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE  
PESTICIDE AND PLANT PESTICIDE MANAGEMENT DIVISION  
REGULATION NO. 619. FRUIT TREE SCIONWOOD, UNDERSTOCK, AND  
NURSERY STOCK  
(By authority conferred on the director of agriculture by section 286.223a of 1931 PA  
189 and transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development by  
Executive Order 2011-2.)  
R 285.619.1 Scionwood certification.  
Rule 1. Scionwood will be certified as virus-free when produced on a parent tree  
registered by the department of agriculture, hereinafter referred to as "the  
department," as being apparently virus-free, the virus-free characteristic of the  
registrant to be determined by the following procedures:  
(a) Not less than 2 visual inspections during the growing season immediately  
before registration.  
(b) Indexing which utilizes standard indicator plants or trees or other methods shown  
by research to be efficacious.  
History: 1979 AC; 1984 AACS.  
R 285.619.2 Scionwood orchards; location and plantings.  
Rule 2. (1) The registrant shall be grown in  
a
planting, hereinafter known as a  
scionwood orchard, isolated not less than 1,000 feet from wild and cultivated bearing-  
age trees of the same genus but which are not eligible for registration. A scionwood  
orchard shall be planted in a manner approved by the department and that will  
assure optimum cultural conditions. A planting chart of the scionwood orchard shall  
be furnished the department, and all planting and maintenance records shall be  
made available for department inspection. Trees shall be planted so that branches  
of different varieties of the same fruit species do not intermingle. The trueness-to-  
name of a tree submitted for registration shall be established to the satisfaction of  
the department before scionwood is distributed from it.  
(2) Scionwood from registered trees may be offered for sale or sold as "Michigan  
Certified Virus-Free Scionwood."  
History: 1979 AC; 1984 AACS.  
R 285.619.3 Scionwood orchards; care, additions, removals.  
Rule 3. (1) A scionwood orchard and the registered trees therein shall be cared for as  
follows:  
Page 1  
Courtesy of www.michigan.gov/orr  
(a) Clean cultivated at all times with the exception of a winter cover crop or mowed  
sod culture.  
(b) Fertilized and pruned to assure maximum quality scionwood growth.  
(c) Maintained in a condition free of insect pests and plant diseases by intensive  
spraying and other control practices recommended by the department or Michigan  
State University.  
(d) The soil of the site shall be free of harmful nematodes and insects or shall be  
fumigated to eliminate them. A post-fumigation inspection is necessary.  
(2) Trees shall not be added to, or removed from, a scionwood orchard without prior  
notice to the department. Trees in the scionwood orchard determined to be  
undesirable by the department shall be removed by the owner or person in charge  
within 10 days of receipt of notice from the department.  
History: 1979 AC; 1984 AACS.  
R 285.619.4 Parent tree registration.  
Rule 4. A registered parent tree shall be assigned an identifying registration  
number by the department. Registration of a parent tree shall be continued from year to  
year if the requirements of  
R
285.619.1 to R 285.619.3 are met and biannual  
growing season inspections and indexing show the tree to be free of virus diseases.  
Registered trees shall be indexed on indexing host plants at the discretion of the  
department. Indexing shall be done by the department or by others approved by, and  
subject to the supervision of, the department. If the indexing is done by others, the  
department shall, in addition to the indexing done by others, randomly index up to 5%  
of the registered trees.  
History: 1979 AC; 1984 AACS.  
R 285.619.11 Understock parent tree certification.  
Rule 11. (1) An understock seed source parent tree is considered registered when  
determined to be free of seed transmissible viruses by procedures established in R  
285.619.1. Continuance of registration depends upon the registrant remaining virus-  
free as determined by procedures established in R 285.619.4.  
(2) A clonal understock parent tree or stool bed is eligible for registration when it  
is the direct, own-rooted progeny of a registrant or when it is determined to be virus-  
free by the procedures established in R 285.619.1 and trueness-to-name has been  
established to the satisfaction of the department. A continuous row of a clone on it  
own roots established for layering or for cuttings is considered a stool bed and a  
unit for registration purposes. Continuance of registration depends upon the  
registrant remaining virus-free as determined by procedures established in R 285.619.4.  
History: 1979 AC.  
R 285.619.21 Nursery stock, understock, and seed; designation.  
Page 2  
Courtesy of www.michigan.gov/orr  
Rule 21. (1) Finished fruit tree nursery stock, understocks or understock seed,  
when certified according to these rules, may be offered for sale or sold as:  
(a) "Grown from certified virus-free scionwood" when produced from certified  
scionwood.  
(b) "Michigan certified virus-free fruit trees" when produced from certified  
scionwood and understocks.  
(c) "Michigan certified virus-free understocks" when produced from certified seed  
or clonal sources.  
(2) The use of such terms as virus-free, grown from certified virus-free scionwood,  
certified virus-free, Michigan certified virus-free fruit trees, Michigan certified  
virus-free understocks, Michigan certified virus-free scionwood, and such other  
term or terms that may be so construed to describe fruit tree nursery stock,  
scionwood, understocks, or understock seed, shall be restricted to that nursery stock,  
scionwood, understocks, or understock seed so certified under these rules.  
History: 1979 AC.  
R 285.619.22 Nursery stock, scionwood, understock, and seed; certification.  
Rule 22. (1) Finished nursery stock and clonal understocks of apple, cherry, or plum  
shall be labeled as and certified true to variety by the nursery as a prerequisite for  
certification under these rules.  
(2) Scionwood, understock seed, or understocks certified by the plant regulatory official  
of the state of origin by procedures comparable to those provided by these rules and  
acceptable to the department are considered certified.  
History: 1979 AC; 2016 AACS.  
R 285.619.31 Fees.  
Rule 31. Annual fees as established by R 285.610.1 shall be charged for registration  
and certification services.  
History: 1979 AC; 1984 AACS.  
Page 3  
Courtesy of www.michigan.gov/orr  
;