Stockplant factors affecting root initiation in cuttings of Triplochiton scleroxylon K. Schum., an indigenous hardwood of west africa

The ability of auxin-treated T. scleroxylon cuttings to root was affected by the prior management of potted stockplants. In undecapitated single-stem stockplants more cuttings from upper rather than lower mainstem nodes rooted; a difference paralleled by leaf water potential immediately after severance, although there was also a positive relationship with internode length. The rooting percentage of mainstem cuttings from unpruned stockplants ranged from 15% to 43% whereas that of cuttings from the lateral shoots of pruned stockplants ranged from 40% to 83%. Considerably more cuttings rooted from stockplants which were severely pruned than from those where decapitation removed only the top node; there seemed to be an inverse relationship with the number of shoots per plant and the carbohydrate: nitrogen ratio. However, in tall pruned stock- plants, more cuttings from lower lateral (basal) than from upper (apical) shoots rooted, although the differences between cuttings from basal and apical lateral shoots were less when the stockplants’ mainstems were orientated at 45° or kept horizontal, instead of vertically. Adding NPK 16 weeks before harvesting cuttings from 10-node vertical stockplants increased the rooting ability of cuttings from basal shoots without affecting the rooting of those from apical shoots. More lateral shoot cuttings rooted when two, instead of one or four lateral shoots were allowed to develop per stockplant, this being associated with less cutting mortality than occurred in pruned stockplants. In stock- plants with two shoots, cuttings from basal lateral shoots rooted better than those from apical shoots, although without competition from basal shoots. The rooting of apical shoots was enhanced by application of a complete fertilizer. The presence of basal shoots reduced the rooting ability of apical shoots even with the fertilizer application. Many of the effects of lateral branch position on rooting may be related to light intensity, for greater rooting percentages occurred among cuttings from lower, more shaded, than from upper less shaded branches. This positional effect was eliminated when branches were uniformly illuminated.