CHESTNUT AND HAZEL PROPAGATION BY LEAFY SUMMER CUTTINGS

Treatment with 1 250 mg 1^-1 indolylbutyric acid (IBA) applied for 5 seconds in 50% aqueous acetone before planting was the most important single root promoting treatment. C. avellana cuttings were able to respond to IBA applied to the shoot under black adhesive tape before cutting collection by producing preformed roots and then rooting in the bench at a level similar to those cuttings given IBA after collection.

Propagating C. sativa cuttings in a high humidity ventilated fog system gave a higher frequency of rooting, longer roots and reduced necrosis compared to propagation in semi-ventilated mist. Corylus cuttings also benefited from fog.

Benefits of IBA treatment and the fog environment were consistent for normal cuttings and those pretreated with a black adhesive blanching tape with or without prior defoliation of the shoots. The effects of these preconditioning treatments themselves were masked by bush-to-bush differences in rooting potential.

A possible contributory factor to rooting success which was not tested experimentally was that stockplants were grown as hard winter-pruned hedges.

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