The effect of cutting length on the rooting and growth of subtropical Eucalyptus hybrid clones in South Africa

Abstract

The length of a cutting can affect both the rooting and plug colonisation of container-grown stock. Using hedges from conventional clonebanks established in the ground, four cutting length treatments (13, 10, 8 and 5 cm) were tested using five Eucalyptus grandis × E. urophylla clones. The smallest cutting length had the lowest rooting, number of leaves, number of roots per cutting, root dry mass, and shoot dry mass. Root plug colonisation (i.e. plug score) was greatest for a cutting length of 8 cm and lowest for the 5 cm cutting length (i.e. poor colonisation). It is recommended that cutting length should be approximately 8-10 cm for operational production.