Lanzones (Lansium domesticum (Correa) propagation by rooting of terminal stem cuttings to advance first fruiting

Lanzones takes 12-15 years to fruit from seeds and cleft grafts about 10-12 years because the seedling rootstocks imparts juvenility on the mature scion. Growing the seedling rootstock may take another 3 years. Marcots may fruit in 5 years but is a tedious and wasteful process. An alternative is to root terminal stems, a process unsuccessfully attempted by reseachers at the UP[University of the Philippines] College of Agriculture in 1915, 22 and 24. In a preliminary experiment done from January to March, soft wood cuttings failed to root under mist, enclosed frame, full sunlight and partial shade. Semi hardwood terminal leafy cuttings showed some rooting under mist and enclosed glass top frame. A second study was conducted fom April to June to compare the rooting reponse of semi hardwood leafy terminal cuttings under mist. The treatments were: 1) wounding (main plot) and (2) chemical treatment(sub-plot) of the basal ends with a) Control(water) b) Rootone rooting powder and solutions of c) 50 ppm and d) 100 ppm of indole-3-butyric acid(IBA). Forty eight cuttings per treatment combination were rooted in washed river sand in seedflats placed on top of a bench provided by intermittent mist from 8 am to 5 pm daily. Wounding significantly improved the number of cuttings that rooted (71.88% vs. 46.86%), and length of roots(6.47 cm vs. 4.29 cm) regardless of chemical treatment. Likewise 50 ppm IBA consistently gave the best results followed by 100 ppm IBA. Rootone and Control. Rooting ranged from 25%(Control, untreated) to 89.6%(wounded, 50 ppm IBA). Plants readily survived potting in a 50-50 mixture of sandy soil and coconut coir in 4-inch pots. Shade(50%) and occasional misting were provided. Rooting of terminal cuttings offers a means of propagation that has the efficiency and convenience of cleft grafting and the earlier fruiting of marcots. Three non-experimental lanzones trees from rooted cuttings that were planted, and not given any care throughout, fruited in 8 years. Ten full grown trees from seeds obtained in Malaysia in 1984, planted in the same location, also without any care, have not fruited to date.