Ben-Jaacov, J., Dept. of Ornamental Horticulture, A.R.O., Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50-250, Israel
Ackerman, A., Dept. of Ornamental Horticulture, A.R.O., Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50-250, Israel

The use of suitable rootstocks can solve many problems in cultivating commercial cut-flower plantations of Proteas and other Southern hemisphere plants. Grafted cuttings have been shown to be a suitable propagating system for producing Leucadendron, Leucospermum and Prostanthera plants, but, for large-scale commercial plantations it is important to use rapid and efficient grafting methods. However, cuttings of these and many similar plants root well only if thin, young wood is used, and tying such delicate grafts is very difficult and inaccurate. We used flexible, transparent microtubing to bind splice grafts together. The method was tried with Chamelaucium, which is propagated by means of thin wood cuttings. Pieces of transparent microtubing, 15 mm in length, were used for binding the diagonally cut bottom end of the scion to the diagonally cut upper end of the rootstock. These two ends were inserted into opposite ends of the transparent microtube, to provide pressure and a perfect match between the cut ends. This binding method made it possible to produce 50 grafted cuttings per hour with a success rate of 60%.