Rooting and Overwintering Stem Cuttings of Stewartia pseudocamellia Maxim. Relevant to Hormone, Media, and Temperature

Abstract

Stewartia pseudocamellia Maxim. (Japanese Stewartia), a member of Theaceae (tea family), is an excellent garden plant with ornamental features for all four seasons. Reproduction difficulty, however, limits its popularity. We conducted three experiments to ascertain the optimum conditions needed for rooting and subsequent overwintering of semihardwood Stewartia pseudocamellia cuttings. Cuttings were collected in July and prepared for rooting using two types of hormones (KIBA quick dip and Hormodin powder) and three media (Perlite + ProMix, Perlite + Perennial Mix, or Perlite + ProMix + Perennial Mix). Rooted cuttings were overwintered at four different temperatures. The best overwintering temperature was 5 °C, at which 65.6% of newly rooted cuttings survived. Temperatures lower than –12.2 °C were detrimental to the plants. Without cold treatment, only 21.9% of the rooted cuttings survived, which was three times lower than those that received 5 °C treatments. Plants rooted in Perlite + Perennial Mix had 61.8% overwintering survival, which is significantly higher than Perlite + ProMix. The quality of roots, indicated by total root length per cutting, was higher (104.3 cm) with Perlite + Perennial Mix, but not statistically significant. Cuttings treated with rooting hormones had higher rooting percentages (71.9% to 93.6%) as compared with the control (53%). For the same concentration (8000 mg·L−1), liquid (KIBA) and liquid + powder (KIBA + indole-3-butyric acid) rooting hormones resulted in better rooting percentages than powder (Hormodin) alone, although there was no statistical difference in rooting percentages among rooting hormone treatments. The best hormone for subsequent overwintering survival was the combination of quick dip (5000 mg·L−1 KIBA) and Hormodin #2 (0.3% a. i.; equivalent to 3000 mg·L−1). It resulted in 64.2% survival, significantly higher than for KIBA quick dip (8000 mg·L−1 a.i.) or Hormodin #3 (0.8% a. i.; equivalent to 8000 mg·L−1) alone. Our results suggest that reproduction (rooting and overwintering) of Stewartia was affected by many factors. We recommend rooting Stewartia in media that has good aeration and moderate water-holding capacity and overwintering them at ≈5 °C.