Propagation of Anemone x hybrida by Root Cuttings

Stock plants of Anemone x hybrida Paxton ‘Honorine Jobert’ and ‘Richard Ahrens’ were grown in 3.8 liter (#1) containers for 30 weeks beginning in April, and fertilized daily with a complete nutrient solution providing 10, 40, 80 or 150 mg/liter (ppm) nitrogen (N), in a constant ratio of 1 ammonium: 2 nitrate. At the end of 30 weeks (November), 4-cm-long root cuttings were harvested from the stock plants and treated with the potassium salt of indolebutyric acid (K-IBA) at 0, 100, 500 or 1000 mg/liter (ppm), then placed in cell packs containing a pine bark-based substrate, one cutting per cell. The containers were arranged under intermittent mist in a heated greenhouse. Overall, 91% of the cuttings regenerated a complete plant. There were cultivar differences in regeneration, and the highest K-IBA concentration was inhibitory to ‘Honorine Jobert’. Nitrogen nutrition of the stock plants, K-IBA treatment of the root cuttings, and fresh weight of the root cuttings, had no significant effect on percent regeneration. Time to shoot emergence was reduced by higher rates of N applied to the stock plants, and increased at the highest concentration of K-IBA in ‘Honorine Jobert’, but not in ‘Richard Ahrens’. Dry weights of the regenerated plants increased with increasing weight of the cuttings from which they originated. They were related linearly to rate of N applied to the stock plants in ‘Honorine Jobert’, and quadratically in ‘Richard Ahrens’, with maximum plantlet weight predicted at 114 mg/liter (ppm) N. At the observed optimal rate of N applied to the stock plants, dry weights of the regenerated plants increased with increasing K-IBA concentration, in a quadratic manner. Maximum plantlet weight is predicted at 459 mg/liter (ppm) K-IBA in ‘Honorine Jobert’, and at 425 mg/liter (ppm) in ‘Richard Ahrens’.