National Agricultural Research Institute NARI TOKTOK KER22E November 2004 Recommended Price K 3.30 (incl. VAT) Marcotting Manual Copies of this toktok and further information are available at: National Agricultural Research Institute Wet Lowlands Islands Programme Lowlands Agricultural Experiment Station LAES Keravat Information Centre P.O. Box 204 Kokopo East New Britain Province Papua New Guinea Telephone: (675) 983 9200 / 9145 Facsimile: (675) 983 9129 Email: [email protected][email protected]
Transcript
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National Agricultural Research Institute
NARI TOKTOKKER22E
November 2004
RecommendedPrice K 3.30(incl. VAT)
Marcotting Manual
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Copies of this toktok and further informationare available at:
National Agricultural Research InstituteWet Lowlands Islands Programme
The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) wasestablished by an Act of the National Parliament of Papua NewGuinea in July 1996 as a publicly funded, statutory researchorganisation, to conduct applied and development orientedresearch on food crops, alternative food and cash crops,livestock and resource management issues. Besides appliedand adaptive research, NARI is responsible for providingauthoritative technical, analytical and diagnostic services andup-to-date information to the entire agriculture sector in PNG.The major targets are the smallholder semi-commercial farmersin the country.
The mission of NARI is to contribute, through applied researchand technical services, to the development of the agriculturesector and realisation of the national goals by identifying,adapting and transferring agricultural technologies andinformation, so as to:
• Enhance the productivity, efficiency and sustainabilityof the smallholder agriculture, and
• Improve farmer income, food security and welfare ofPapua New Guineans and the nation.
This toktok was written by Alternative Crops Section,NARI Wet Lowlands Islands Programme in June 2004. Thematerial presented is based on the best information avail-able at the time of printing (November 2004).
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Selection of Toktoks available at NARILAES Keravat
An introduction to vanilla K2.20Species of vanilla and where to grow them in PNG K3.30Tumerik K3.30How to budgraft citrus K4.40Lukaut long banana prut lang K2.20Wokobaut kompos K2.20Support and shade your vanilla K4.40How to plant vanilla K3.30How to train vanilla vines K4.40Pepper cultivation K4.40Supports for pepper K2.20How to prune pepper K3.30Harvesting and processing of pepper K3.30Mulching vanilla plants K2.20Planifolia Vanilla flower induction K2.20Vanilla pollination K4.40Harvesting ripe vanilla beans K3.30Vanilla curing K4.40Vanilla industry issues K2.20Vanilla disease: Shoot blight Anthracnose K3.30
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MARCOTTING
Marcotting is one method that we can use toproduce a new young plant that is just the sameas the mother tree. This new plant is called aclone. There are six reasons and advantages toproduce clones. These are:
1. High yielding; plants propagated as clonesare from highyielding mother trees.
2. Early bearing; clones start to produce muchearlier than trees grown of seeds.
3. Smaller trees; the trees, even fully grown,stay smaller and so need not as much spacein the garden or block and are easier toharvest.
4. Good quality; the fruits of clones have a betterquality than plants from seeds.
5. Guaranteed harvest; you can select femaletrees and so your harvest will be bigger.
6. Better care; smaller trees allow easier controlof pest and
diseases and simplifies orchard management.
The method of marcotting can be used toproduce clones from all important agriculturalplants. It is mainly used for plants where simple
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whole plant asbefore when itwas still part ofthe mother tree.Water the firsttime thoroughlyand never letthe soil in thepoly bags falldry. Marcottedseedling will bein the nurseryfor at least 6weeks to growstrong beforeplanting out inthe field (Figure7).
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cuttings show insufficient rooting.
NARI LAES Keravat picks the best availablemother trees to clone. These are usually onesthat are high yielding (have a lot of fruits or nuts),good quality and resistant to pests and diseases.This Toktok describes how we do Marcotting atNARI.
Materials Required:
• Budding knife or sharp pocket knife• Clear plastic sheets (50cm x 30cm)• Twine or stronger ropes
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conditions. The wet season is normally betterfor marcotting. To achieve best rooting,marcotting is done at the time when the treedevelops new branches (not while flowering orbearing fruits). Once the root grew in thesawdust or coco peat, it is ready to be cut fromthe mother tree (Figure 5) and taken to thenursery. Here it is dressed and planted into polybags. Remove the plastic carefully and cut thelower end of the marcott just below the newlygrown roots to avoid rotting (Figure 6). Thenremove two thirds of the leaves before plantinginto new two to four litre poly bags or containers.The dressing of the leaves is necessary to avoidwilting, since the small roots cannot support the
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• Hardwood Rooting Hormone (optional)• Ladder• Decayed sawdust or decayed coco peat• Bucket of water (if need)
Method
Water is added to the decayed sawdust or cocopeat until it is wet and moist. If you squeeze thewet material, water should not drip between yourfingers as this indicates that there is too muchwater in it.
Select a healthy semi mature branch or shoot. It
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all of the upper part of the branch. When fillingin the sawdust or the coco peat compact thembefore you tie the other end of the plastic sheet.Again tie the plastic firmly at the end (Figure 4).
From time to time check to see if there are noinsects boring through the plastic sheet. If youdo notice some holes, cover up the medium wellagain.
Root Development
After marcotting it will take about four to sixmonths before the roots start to develop. Itdepends on the type of plant and the weather
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should be at least 1cm in diameter or the size ofa pencil (Figure 1). Use a the budding knife orany sharp blade to cut two rings around the barkof the branch. Your first cut should be about 10to 15cm away from the base or the fork of the
shoot or branch. The second cut should be about3cm above the first one. Make a vertical cut tojoin the two cuts and then peel of the bark inbetween the two cuts by using your knife. Afteryou have removed the bark, use your buddingknife to gently scrape off the thin layer of tissuethat covers the woody part (Figure 2). Next get
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the clear plastic sheet and the rope and tie oneend of the plastic sheet firmly around the branchfour to six cm below the ring barked area (Figure3). The edges of the plastic should overlap sothat it forms a tunnel around the branch. Fill in
the moist sawdust or coco peat into the plasticsheet until you have covered the cut area thatyou have made and tie the end of the plasticsheet once again. It is very important to knowthat the roots will develop on the upper part ofthe branch. This means that when you add thecoco peat or saw dust make sure that they cover
