Investigations on Propagation by Grafting of Blue Spruce (Picea pungens Engelm.)

Abstract

Blue spruce (Picea pungens cv. Hoopsii) is exotic to Turkey and widely used in landscape applications. In this study, grafting of blue spruce onto the rootstock of Norway spruce (P. abies) and oriental spruce (P. orientalis) were studied. For this reason, the rootstock of 2+1 and 2+0 aged were used. Moreover, the effects of different grafting types as cleft and veneer graft techniques, and the effect of grafting wax were also investigated. According to results, 60 % of success rate for cleft graft, and 55 % of success rate for veneer graft were obtained. Moreover, the effect of grafting wax also increased the grafting success significantly. The highest success rate as 87 % was obtained for the applied of cleft grafting techniques, used to the 2+1 aged rootstocks of Norway spruce and treated to grafting wax.