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The influence of cutting roots on the growth and fruiting of ‘top group’ plum cultivars (‘Topfirst’, ‘Topfive’, ‘Toptaste’, ‘Tophit’ and ‘Topend Plus’), under the pedoclimatic conditions of Sînmihaiu Almasului, in the centre of Transylvania, Romania, in 2017-2018, was studied. The trees were grafted on Saint Julien rootstock, trained as Zahn Spindel and the orchard had a density of 1000 trees/ha. Roots were cut twice, at 40 cm distance from the trunk, in an angle of 45° and 30 cm depth, as followed: first time in the autumn during the fall of leaves, on one side of the row and the second time in spring, at blooming time, on the other side of the row. The measurements were done each year after the leaves have been fallen. There were made observations on some growth parameters (length of shoots, height of trees, trunk sectional area, the fruits and vegetative branches ratio) and fructification (average yield for 2017-2018 period, and was determined the productivity index). The treatments influenced the shoot growth, height of the trees, cumulative yield, trunk cross sectional area, the ratio of the yield to a trunk sectional area, with differences statistically assured. Root pruning reduced the average length of shoots. The longest shoots, in mean values, gave the unpruned root variant (131.0 cm). Root pruning decreased the average length of annual growth (51.1 cm). The biggest average trunk cross sectional area with the unpruned root system was obtained (58.7 cm2). Also root pruning influenced the height of the trees. The best cumulative yield was obtained in the variant of root pruning system (28.75 t/ha) followed by the unpruned root system (25.87 t/ha). Finally, root pruning increased productivity. The biggest value was registered in ‘Tophit’ in the root pruned variant (0.73 kg/cm2). The lowest value of productivity index was obtained in the unpruned system.

Weed problems were reported in almost all production areas, and management of competing unwanted vegetation has long been an issue for commercial growers all around the world. A field trial was set up in 2016 in Bologa, Cluj county, Romania, in order to examine the influence that different mulches have on weed control, crop growth, yield and soil properties. Weed management is critical for successful production of blueberries. The use of herbicides is becoming increasingly limited, the cost and availability of manual labor are prohibitive factors. There was little research comparing different production strategies in container grown blueberries. The main objective was finding a cost effective weed suppression method that increases yield, promotes vegetative growth and fruit quality. Organic matter (OM) was 6% higher in pine bark treatment compared with weed mat, the pH was not influenced in a significant way by any of the treatments. The number of shoots was higher in pine bark treatment, 1.67 on average, compared to weed mat treatment where the number of shoots was 1.45 this might lead to an increase of production in the following years for pine bark.