Exploring Methods to Enhance Rooting of Vaccinium arboreum Stem Cuttings

Abstract

Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum Marshall) has great potential in the fruit and ornamental industries, but is very difficult to vegetatively propagate. A series of rooting experiments were run using juvenile cuttings from mature plants. The first study was designed to test the effects of environment and substrate on softwood cuttings. The second study tested the effects of substrate and wounding on hardwood cuttings. These factors were compared in two environments. The two environments were a “mist tent” and a “sweat tent”. The second portion of this experiment used a completely randomized design to test the effects of wounding on softwood cuttings. The third study was designed to test the effects of ascorbic acid on softwood cuttings a 10 s quick dip or 2 hr soak in ascorbic acid with varying concentrations of IBA (0, 100, 1000, 2500, and 5000) on softwood cuttings. Rooting in all experiments ranged from 0 – 23%. There were no significant effects due to environment, substrate, wounding, ascorbic acid, IBA concentrations, or interactions between these factors. No factors were found to affect rooting or callus percentages. Thus far, auxin treatments, wounding, environment, and ascorbic acid applications have proven to be ineffective for enhancing adventitious root formation of V. arboreum cuttings. Further research is needed to identify beneficial treatments.