Growth of Bush Pepper Seedlings of Different Sources of Cuttings Grown on Various Growing Media Formulas

Abstract

Pepper grows creepingly following the growth of its climbing plants, making it difficult to maintain and harvest. Therefore, bush pepper cultivation was developed by replacing climbing trees with 1.5 m high concrete. However, seedlings that can grow into bush pepper are cuttings from fruit branches and primary branches, which are difficult to grow because the nodes of these branches do not have root primordia. This study aimed to obtain cuttings that can grow into bush pepper on the most superior growing media. The experiment was arranged using a completely randomized design (CRD) with two treatment factors, namely formulas of growth media (M1= soil + organic fertilizer + husk; M2= soil + organic fertilizer + compost; M3= soil + organic fertilizer + husk ash; and M4= soil + organic fertilizer + moss) and sources of cuttings (S1= climbing stem; S2= axillary branch; S3= fruit branch; and S4= primary branch with one main stem node). Based on the growth percentage of fruit branches and primary branches in the seedlings, cuttings from climbing stem and axillary branches were not able to grow into bush pepper, because fruit and primary branches only grew less than 5% in all media formulas. Cuttings from fruit branches and primary branches affect the formation of bush pepper with an average percentage of growth of fruit branches and primary branches of more than 95% on M2 and M3 media. Growth of buds, leaves and roots of cuttings from climbing stem and axillary branch was significantly better than cuttings from fruit branches and primary branches.