MYRIAM OUARDANI PLNT 310- PLANT PROPAGATION

ANN-ROSE UHLAND DANIELLE DONNELLY

HOW TO PROPAGATE STARS:
STEM CUTTINGS OF SERISSA JAPONICA
ABOUT US

Ann-Rose Uhland and Myriam Ouardani are two McGillian students respectively in U3
and U2. They are studying in Agro-Environmental Sciences and specializing in
ecological agriculture. They are both avid plant collectors and therefore were really
enthusiastic to learn more about plant propagation.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF IBA ROOTING HORMONE POWDER AT VARIOUS CONCENTRATIONS AND THE EFFECT OF
THE CUTTING TYPE ON ROOTING OF STEM CUTTINGS OF SERISSA JAPONICA.

Softwood and hardwood cuttings are a common propagation method for Serissa japonica, which is also
commonly called tree of a thousand stars. The available literature did not record the effect of rooting hormones
on Serissa japonica, but other members of the Rubacieae genus that have the reputation of being more difficult
to root have succeeded best with a 1% IBA concentration (Dhiman and Gupta, 2013). However, as Serissa
japonica is described as an easy to root species (Morris and Wolff, 2008), it is possible that it does not absolutely
need the hormone powder to root. For this experiment, the hardwood and softwood cuttings were 5cm long,
approximately 5-6 nodes. We used 10 cuttings per treatment and had 2 replicates for each of them.

PROCEDURES OF THE EXPERIMENT

SOFTWOOD AND HARDWOOD CUTTINGS TREATED WITH IBA AT O% (CONTROL), IBA AT O.4 % (STIM-ROOT #1), OR
AT IBA O.8 % (STIM-ROOT #2).

The media used was a mix of 50% perlite and 50% peat moss. Our treatments were randomized accross 3
Styrofoam flats with ten cuttings per row. The root hormones used were Stimroot #2 and #3. S. japonica is a
plant that should be kept in a humid environment, it is recommended to spray the foliage daily. Therefore, the
cuttings remained in the mist frame with a bottom heat (25°C) throughout the experiment. Mist frequency was
10 s every 15 min.
RESULTS

We started to collect data as soon as we noticed the first sign of root initiation, 3 weeks after we started the
experiment. We recorded the rate of root formation weekly by sampling 2 or 3 cuttings per treatment. We used
3-score scale to classify them. A root score of 0 meant no root, 1: few roots, 2: significant amount of roots,
and 3: a lot of roots.

Root development of softwood cuttings Root devlopment of harwood cuttings

3 3

Rooting score
Rooting score

2 2

1 1

0 0
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Week
Week
No IBA IBA # 2 IBA #3 No IBA IBA # 2 IBA #3

IN OVERALL, HARDWOOD CUTTINGS TOOK LONGER TO INITIATE THEIR ROOT FORMATION. THE USE OF IBA #3
ALLOWED ROOT FORMATION TO BE QUICKER BUT SHOWED THE SAME RESULTS AT THE END THAN NO IBA
TREATMENT. THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NO IBA AND IBA #2 TREATMENTS, THE NO IBA TREATMENT
WAS EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE FOR THE SOFTWOOD CUTTINGS THAN THE IBA #2 .

For the final results, we compared all the 20 cuttings

from the 2 replicates of each treatment. We used a
more precise scale to grade them based on a 4-score
system. A root score of 0 meant no roots, 1: starting to
root, 2: few roots, 3: significant amount of roots, and
4: a lot of roots. We selected the best rooted cuttings
to transplant them.

WE OBSERVED THAT EVEN IF THE SOFTWOOD CUTTINGS WERE THE FIRST TO ROOT, HARDWOOD CUTTINGS WERE
THE ONES WITH THE MOST ROOT FORMATION. THE USE OF IBA DID NOT SEEM TO HAVE A CONCLUDING EFFECT ON
ROOT FORMATION, WE COULD NOT DEFINE A TREND IN THE RESULTS. THE NO IBA SHOWED EVEN MORE POSITIVE
RESULTS.

Rooting score for the total cuttings for the different treatments

Softwood cuttings IBA #3

Treatments

Softwood cuttings IBA #2

Softwood cuttings no IBA
Harwood cuttings IBA #3
Harwood cuttings IBA #2
Harwood cuttings no IBA
0 5 10 15 20
Number of cuttings
score 0 score 1 score 2 score 3 score 4

2
CONCLUSION

IBA DID NOT SEEM TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE ROOT DEVELOPMENT OF SERISSA JAPONICA, HOWEVER
IT DID IMPROVE THE RATE OF ROOT FORMATION. ROOT FORMATION WAS FASTER WITH IBA #3, WHILE IBA #2 HAD
NO NOTICEABLE EFFECT. HARDWOOD CUTTINGS SHOWED BETTER ROOT DEVELOPMENT THAN SOFTWOOD
CUTTINGS, DESPITE THEY TOOK LONGER TO INITIATE THEIR ROOT FORMATION.

AKNOWLEDMENT

We would like to thank Professor Danielle Donnelly and her teacher assistant Mohamed Antar for
their support and advices throughout our experiment. We would also like to thank Guy Rimmer for
the plant material and the care of the greenhouse.

REFERENCES

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Position of Shoot on Adventitious Root Formation in Stem Cuttings. Journal of Tree Sciences. 32: 53-58.
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