EFFECT OF DIFFERENT MEDIA ON VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION OF PROSOPIS-JULIFLORA CUTTINGS UNDER SOLAR-POWERED MIST

Vegetative propagation of trees under intermittent mist could be valua ble in developing countries to capture elite individual trees for refo restation. However, unreliable or unavailable supplies of electricity often make mist propagation impossible. We describe here a system cons isting of a solar panel, a storage battery and a 'mechanical leaf' for control of mist propagation that requires no external source of elect ricity. Mist propagation requires porous, low bulk density media to al low rapid drainage, good aeration and easy root penetration. We compar ed two locally available rooting media with an imported commercial med ia (perlite/vermiculite) and found that a local coarse volcanic gravel (3 mm in diameter) was equal or better than the imported mixture for percentage rooting, root length and roots per cutting. Use of the loca l rooting media and the solar-powered mist system resulted in more tha n 90% rooting of Prosopis juliflora cuttings on a Haitian site.