EFFECT OF GRAFTING ON THE GROWTH OF FOUR LEUCOSPERMUM CULTIVARS – PRELIMINARY ASSAY

Grafting is not a common practice in Proteaceae orchards.
It does not solve all the growing problems but it can be used to increase the tolerance to some diseases, to get a better adaptation to some soil types, to propagate faster some cultivars/varieties which are difficult to strike from cuttings, to increase production using vigorous rootstocks or to preserve some endangered species.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Leucospermum sp. ‘Spider’ as a rootstock on the vegetative growth and on the yield of four varieties of Leucospermum: ‘Veldfire’, ‘Vlam’, ‘Goldie’ and ‘Memory’. This study was performed in the coastal area of the Alentejo Portuguese region, in 1.5 year old plants that were already thinned.
Twenty plants of each variety (ten grafted and ten not grafted) were observed fortnightly.
The shoots were counted, their length was registered, and moment of the flower buds emergence was recorded.
Grafting seemed to affect positively the rootstock growth on ‘Goldie’. It seemed also to extend the vegetative growing season, especially on ‘Veldfire’. Grafting did not affect either the shoot number or the stem length.
The non-grafted plants resisted better to frost.

XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on Advances in Ornamentals, Landscape and Urban Horticulture

M. Oliveira, C. Gouveia, D. Teixeira

rootstock, lignotuber development, frost resistance

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.937.99