produced roots. 25-38% of shoots from month-old seedlings treated with wicked IBA produced roots, while 13-25% of shoots from one-month-old seedlings treated with painted-on IBA rooted. About half as many shoots from one-year-old plants rooted using either method, compared to shoots from more juvenile seedlings. IBA concentration did not appear to have a significant impact on this preliminary study. The average number of roots and root length also appeared to be higher using the wicking method of applying IBA than with the painted IBA. Rooted shoots treated with IBA via a wick produced an average of 3 roots per stem, across all treatments. Rooted shoots treated with IBA had painted on the wound produced an average of 1.6 roots per rooted stem, across all treatment combinations. Roots produced by shoots that had been treated with wicked IBA had an average length of 64.5 mm, across all treatments. Roots produced by shoots that had been painted with IBA had an average length of 28.5 mm.

2003 Grafted tree study. Very few shoots from grafted trees produced roots in the pot layering system (Table 3.2). Approximately half of the plants were lost to stem rot, leaving very few plants to work with. One shoot of a PA-Golden tree treated with 1,000 ppm IBA produced 2 roots, with an average length of 103 mm. Another PA-Golden, treated with 5,000 ppm IBA, produced more roots, 12, with a shorter average root length (43.3 mm).

2004 seedling study. Both main effects of age and IBA application were found to significantly affect rooting percentage of pot layered pawpaws in 2004 (Table 3.3). However, neither main effect significantly affected average number of roots per rooted stem or root length. Block effects were not significant in regards to rooting percentage or number of roots per rooted stem, but did significantly impact average root length. There was no interaction between the two main effects on any aspect of rooting characteristics evaluated.

Shoots of younger seedlings proved again to be easier to root than those of more mature seedlings, with approximately 6 times more shoots of 6 week old seedling producing roots than 24 week old seedlings (Table 3.4). However, age did not have an impact on average number of roots or root length.

IBA application helped to promote rooting, however, there were no significant differences between the two IBA concentrations tested on rooting percentage (Table 3.5).