Abstract of a paper reporting work funded in part by the Australian Flora Foundation

Propagation of Grevillea
Santi Krisantini, Margaret Johnston, Richard R. Williams
School of Agronomy and Horticulture, The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus, QLD 4343, Australia
Christine Beveridge
Department of Botany, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
Combined Proceedings, The International Plant Propagators' Society 53:154-158 (2003)  Grant details

Abstract
Grevillea (Proteaceae) is a native Australian genus with high commercial value as landscape ornamentals, and they are known to be difficult to root. There has been only limited research into the propagation of Grevillea. The effect of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) on the rooting G. ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ in winter, spring and summer was evaluated at UQ Gatton, southern Queensland in order to determine the rooting ability of this species in different seasons. The effect of cutting type, i.e. tip and stem cuttings, and method of auxin application, i.e. top and basal application, were also tested on G. ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ and G. ‘Coastal Dawn’. G. ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ demonstrated a seasonal rooting and was more responsive than G. ‘Coastal Dawn’ to the applied IBA. Stem cuttings had a higher survival than tip cuttings, but tip cuttings had a higher capacity to root. Top application of auxin at low concentration (1 g L-1) in G. ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ in spring resulted in a significantly higher rooting percentage than basal application at the same concentration. These findings could be useful for setting up a practical propagation protocol on Grevillea.