COULD AFFECT THE ROOTING OF TWO TAXUS BACCATA VARIETIES STEM CUTTING LENGTH AND PROPAGATION PERIOD?

Ornamental trees are used worldwide in landscape design. Taxus baccata L. is an evergreen non-resinous tree, often with multiple trunks and spreading, pyramidal or rounded canopy. It can be propagated generatively and vegetatively. Nurseries mostly prefer to propagate them by vegetative way, because this type of method is quicker and the newly propagated plants inherit the genetics of the mother plants. In this study we have selected two varieties of Taxus baccata `Repandens` (TBR) and T. baccata `Fastigiata Aurea` (TBF), in which different length stem cuttings (5–10, 10–20, and 20–25 cm) were obtained and propagated in two different periods (May and July). From our results could be concluded that TBR rooting percentage increased at the collected cuttings in May and at 10–20 cm size. On the other hand, at TBF cuttings rooting percentage reported significant increases at 5–10 cm, also at the cuttings collected in May. In conclusion, our research suggests that Taxus baccata cuttings could obtain a higher rooting percentage when they are collected in May, moreover the length of the cuttings could be an influencing factor.