Methods and precautions for propagation of wolfberry by cuttings

Wolfberry cutting time

Wolfberry is generally propagated by cuttings in late March or early April or when the ground temperature in the 0 to 20 cm soil layer reaches 7 to 8 degrees. At this time, the temperature is suitable for root germination and the survival rate of planting is higher.

Wolfberry cutting method

1. Selection of seedling site: Before wolfberry cuttings, you need to choose suitable soil. You can choose a sandy loam or loam plot that is sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, with a flat terrain, fertile soil, convenient drainage and irrigation, and neutral or slightly alkaline. Apply decomposed organic fertilizer, phosphorus fertilizer, and potassium fertilizer to the soil, then spray and disinfect it with carbendazim wettable powder and potassium permanganate solution, deep plow 25 cm, and rake it flat and fine.

2. Make bed film: Make the treated soil into a flat bed with a width of 100cm and a height of 15cm, with a bed distance of 40cm. After watering, cover it with a black ground film with a width of 140cm and a thickness of 0.01mm. The bed should have fine soil and a flat and smooth surface.

3. Collection of cuttings: Select wolfberry mother plants that produced a large amount of fruit in the previous year, are free of pests and diseases, have no mechanical damage, have a compact tree shape, and have large and uniform fruit sets on the fruiting branches. From mid-March to early April, collect healthy branches with a diameter of 0.6cm to 1.0cm.

Before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m., take semi-lignified branches of the current year, select the middle part, cut into 12-15 cm small sections, remove 1/2 or 1/3 of the leaves. Be careful not to pick tender branches, too tender branches and old branches. Bundle 50 branches into a bundle, and temporarily store them in clean water while cutting.

4. Cuttings treatment: Generally, before cuttings, they are treated with 15-20ppm naphthaleneacetic acid or 200-500mg/kg ABT rooting powder solution. The cuttings are immersed 3-5cm below the seed strip, and it is best to soak the pith of the seed strip.

5. Cutting operation: Use a cutting tool to punch holes in the seedling bed covered with black mulch. The hole depth should be about 8 cm. Four rows should be planted in each bed with a row spacing of 35 cm and a plant spacing of 10 cm. Insert the processed wolfberry cuttings into the holes with a depth of 3/4 of the cutting length (or 1 to 2 full buds exposed on the aboveground part), then seal with wet soil and tamp it down so that the cuttings are tightly combined with the soil.

Precautions for wolfberry cutting propagation

Pests and diseases are prone to occur in the wolfberry seedling stage, mainly wolfberry gall mites, wolfberry aphids and mudworms, which need to be sprayed with pesticides in time for prevention and control. Generally, high-efficiency and low-toxic agents are used, such as a mixture of 1.8% avermectin 0.05% solution and aphidicide 0.067% solution or a mixture of 2% aftamectin 0.05% solution and 48% cypermethrin 0.5% solution, for foliar spraying.