Rooting ability of Calliandra calothyrsus leafy stem cuttings in a non-mist propagator

It was the aim of this study to determine if Calliandra calothyrsus could be vegetatively propagated in a low-tech non-mist propagation environment suitable for the rural tropics. In addition, within and between provenance variation in the rooting ability of C. calothyrsus was determined. Leafy stem cuttings were propagated successfully in non-mist propagators, with 100% rooting success recorded for some genotypes. The average rooting potential of the best rooting provenance was 76% for San Ramon provenance from Nicaragua. Cuttings harvested from stockplants grown from seed collected at La Ceiba, Honduras, were also successful with 65% rooting; while the least successful provenance was Suchitepeques, Guatemala, which did not form adventitious roots. It is concluded that low-tech vegetative propagation is a viable means of providing planting stock of C. calothyrsus, and that the development of operational scale propagation procedures would be worthwhile.