Influence of some external factors on the rooting of GF677, peach and nectarine shoot hardwood cuttings

Abstract

The influence of some external factors [cultivar, indole-butyric acid (IBA) concentration, IBA dipping of shoot tip and base, preheating of cuttings, collecting date, time of cutting collection, mother tree age, cultivar, length of and diameter of cutting] on rooting of peach–nectarine hardwood shoots in the field were examined. It was found that the best IBA concentration for rooting differed among peach cultivars. Rooting of cuttings whose bases only were immersed in IBA solution was higher than those that had both base and tip immersed. In addition, a higher percentage of rooting shoots was achieved with preheating of cuttings before planting. The best length for cuttings varied between cultivars and the best diameter was 10–13 mm. Cuttings collected between 25 October and 13 November (1997 and 1998) showed the highest percentage of rooting shoots. There was also a higher percentage of rooting GF677 hardwood shoot cuttings collected from 7-year-old mother trees compared with those collected from 1-year-old mother trees.