Description
This Manual is the second in a series of readable, well illustrated handbooks about propagating and planting tropical trees.
The five Manuals have been designed to provide clear and concise information on how to select, grow, plant and care for tropical trees, in both moist and drier parts of the tropics. They are intended for anyone interested in growing trees, from the small-holder to the large-scale grower, from local communities to national governments and from school and further education teachers to research and extension staff of agricultural and forestry departments. They provide illustrated, step-by-step instructions, practical guidelines and an outline of the thought processes behind them.
Manual 2 deals with all the procedures necessary for growing tropical trees from seeds. These include suitable techniques for:
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the collection and selection of suitable seeds
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the correct handling and storage of seeds
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the successful germination of seeds
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potting up and transplanting young seedlings
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maintaining the right environment for care and protection of seedlings
The manual includes useful check lists for possible problems that might be encountered and on assessing germination, and provides references for further information on tree flowering and genetics and seed handling and propagation.
The procedures described in this series of Manuals may be used with the majority of woody species to provide diverse seedling or clonal mixtures. They include techniques for ‘domestication’, so that superior planting stock can increasingly be used. This can help to capture more rapidly the great potential for multiple usefulness offered by tropical trees, while also encouraging conservation of their genetic resources.
Contents
Introduction
Why grow tropical trees?
Propagation by seed
Overcoming seed problems
Direct sowing
Sexual reproduction in trees
Introduction: juvenility and maturity
From flower initiation to pollination
Fruit and seed formation
Seed viability and dormancy
Stimulation of flowering
Choosing seed sources
Introduction: biodiversity and domestication
Provenance differences
Which parent trees?
Crossing trees with each other
Reliable seed supplies
Seed handling
Introduction to avoiding losses
Fruit and seed collection
Seed extraction and cleaning
Drying and storing seeds
Pre-sowing treatments
Germinating the seeds
Introduction: favourable seed propagation environments
Shelter and shading for germination
The seed germination medium
Sowing and covering seeds
Using wildings and germinating seeds
Potting up and transplanting young seedlings
Watering seeds and very young seedlings
Checking and protecting seedlings
Germination tests and other seed experiments
Check-lists, sources and records
Check-list for seed and young seedling problems
Some information on tree flowering and genetics
Some information on seed handling and propagation
Assessment of germination
Index