DEVELOPMENT OF PLANTS FROM SINGLE-NODE CUTTINGS DIFFERS AMONG CULTIVARS OF RED MAPLE AND FREEMAN MAPLE

Six red maple (Acer rubrum L.) and four Freeman maple (A. xfreemanii E . Murray) cultivars were compared for rooting of single-node stem cutt ings and subsequent development of rooted cuttings, Cuttings were take n in May 1990 and 1991 and treated with either 3 or 8 g IBA/kg. Rootin g after 4 weeks differed among cultivars, ranging from 22% for 'Karpic k' to 100% for 'Schlesinger' over both years. Rooting scores, based on root counts and lengths, were highest for 'Scllesinger' and lowest fo r 'Scarlet Sentinel) and 'Karpick'. IBA at 8 g . kg(-1) resulted in be tter rooting than at 3 g . kg(-1). Mean length of shoots formed on pot ted rooted cuttings was 22.6 cm for 'Franksred', which initiated shoot s on 100 % of the cuttings that rooted, In contrast, <50 % of 'Armstro ng', 'Jeffersred', 'Karpick', 'Northwood', and 'Scarlet Sentinel' root ed cuttings initiated shoots, and mean length of new shoots was <4 cm for these cultivars, The amount of leaf desiccation that occurred afte r removing cuttings from the propagation bench varied among cultivars, and the percentage of viable leaf surface area correlated positively with final root or shoot dry mass for all cultivars. Chemical name use d: indole-3-butyric acid (LBA).