Abstract
To establish a method of raising one-year-old well-feathered apple trees, ‘Fuji’ and ‘Akitabeniakari’ were grafted on JM7, M.9 and M.26 rootstocks or interstems planted in 17 liter volume of non-woven fabric pots. Three different grafting times (February and March in a greenhouse, April in open field) were compared. Shoots were sprayed one to three times with 6-Benzyladenine (BA, 300 or 600 ppm) to induce feathering. Shoot growth, stem girth, total and average feather length of trees grafted in the early season (February and March) showed greater values than those grafted in the later season. Feathering from new shoots was favorable in all grafting time plots, regardless of the number of treatments or concentration of BA. Ten to fifteen feathers grew from the axillary buds of the shoot of ‘Fuji’, five to thirteen feathers grew from ‘Akitabeniakari’. It was shown that one-year-old well-feathered trees could be raised by grafting apple varieties on dwarfing rootstocks or interstems planted in non-woven fabric pots in the greenhouse in February or March with later application of BA to growing shoots.
