Approximately 32% of the one-month-old seedlings and 50% of shoots from grafted trees rotted in 2003. It is possible that plants were over-watered. There were also several heater failures in the greenhouse that allowed temperatures to reach into the 10circ Celsius range. These cool, damp conditions are favorable for the growth of various stem rot fungi. These environmental conditions are also not favorable for rooting, and may have contributed to rooting failure in this experiment. Only 3.5% of shoots rotted in 2004, and 5% of shoots were broken in 2004 due to deep wounding of stems.
Many plants were also uncovered and disturbed near the end of the 2003 experiment by repairmen moving them. This took place in late December, when most personnel were away for Christmas. Therefore, damage was not discovered until later, when any roots that may have formed and been exposed would have already desiccated. It is possible that more shoots had produced roots, but they were exposed and lost during this time.
Preliminary data shows that pot layering may have potential as a clonal propagation system. Modifications could be made by increasing auxin concentrations, or perhaps attempting different forms of auxins. However, in this preliminary experiment, the rooting of even a few shoots of mature seedlings and grafted cultivars shows promise for pot layering as a clonal propagation method for pawpaw.