Rooting cuttings of ‘Swan Hill’ fruitless olive

Olea europaea ‘Swan Hill’ is difficult to root. However in each of five different lots, rooting of 80% was obtained. Rooting percentages of 60% to 80% were obtained in 10 other treatments. The mean rooting for all ten treatments in June 1970 was 64.5%. General trends indicate that auxin (IBA) concentrations of 1000 ppm may be adequate with softwood cuttings and 2000 ppm adequate with semi-hardwood cuttings, and that higher concentrations may be detrimental. Wounding may be beneficial with softwood cuttings under some conditions and it does not appear to be detrimental under any circumstance. The sensitivity of ‘Swan Hill’ in rooting response to season and auxin concentration might be used as a tool to develop methods of determining the time to take cuttings for best rooting response. ‘Swan Hill’ can be rooted satisfactorily from softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings. Because of the relatively long time required for rooting, care must be used to minimize algae growth on cuttings and flats, to select the most vigorous cuttings, and to exercise care in hardening-off and transplanting.