Seasonal plants are most commonly propagated vegetatively to preserve the characteristics of the parent plants. In practice, paper pots are also used for cultivating green cuttings, which are inserted into a growing tray. In our experiment, we compared the rooting of cuttings and their subsequent cultivation with paper pots and without them. We included two types of plants (Pelargonium × interspecific 'Calliope M Red Splash' in Calibrachoa × hybrid 'Cabrio Yellow') in two time periods . In each period, we inserted 100 cuttings of one type into the trays for each treatment. After four weeks, we assessed the rooting of the cuttings using a rating scale, measured the size of the above-ground part of the seedlings, counted the leaves, and conducted measurements of fresh and dry weight. Half of the plants from each treatment were planted in pots with substrate and cultivated until technological maturity. In the analysis of the rooting of cuttings of both types, differences can be observed between cuttings from periods. In the 1. period, a larger part of the root clump disintegrated, which had grown in the tray with only substrate; a larger root system is also observed in plants planted in trays with only substrate. When measuring the characteristics of both cuttings and technologically mature plants of both types, a considerable equalization between treatments is observed. At the end of the experiment, we concluded that plants of both examined types grown in paper pots were evaluated similarly or even worse in terms of rooting but had comparable quality of the above-ground part, both after rooting (four weeks after planting) and at technological maturity (seven weeks after transplanting).
|