Propagation techniques of some ornamental Oak species (Quercus spp.)

A modification of the technique of etiolation and blanching, using Velcro™ adhesive strips as blanching material, was used as a pretreatment to improve rooting percentage of some Quercus species. Softwood cuttings from stock plants of different age, grown both indoor and outdoor and stem cuttings from seedlings of different origin, were taken to determine the relative benefit of each treatment. Part of the cuttings was treated with an inoculum of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. An additional trial was conducted on stoolbeds applying girdling, banding and IBA on young suckers of two different species of oak. Rooting ranged from almost 0% in the outdoor trial on adult plants to 98.8% in Q. mongolica stem cuttings from seedlings. Rooting strongly decreased with the age of the mother plants and was also species- and ecotype-dependant. The effect of the initial stock plant treatments did not show significant influence on rooting percentage while the number and length of the new roots were, in general, positively increased.