Studies on propagation of ornamental trees, through stem cuttings

Experiments were conducted on the effect of different growth regulating chemicals, number of leaves, size and woodiness of cuttings, and the type Qf rooting media on the root formation and survival of rooted cuttings of Clusia rosea. Cuttings treated with IBA at 6000 ppm resulted in higher percentage of rooting with largest number of roots and cent per cent survival. It was found that fifteen centimetre tip shoot cuttings with two leaves treated with IBA and planted in washed coarse sand under mist give best performance in rooting and survival of rooted cuttings. Five different species of difficult-to-root important ornamental trees viz. Bauhinia purpurea, Bignonia megapotamica, Callistemon lanceolatus, Ficus elastica and Magnolia fuscata were also utilised. It has been observed that root fanning capacity of cuttings varied with the species irrespective of treatments. However, different species of cuttings treated with growth regulators showed profound beneficial effect over untreated cuttings except in Bauhinia purpurea; IBA application resulted in maximum root formation and survival of rooted cuttings.