Pg. 15-17 Possible Rootstock Benefits for Litchi Cultivars

Plant grafting is an ancient technique known to the Chinese at least as early as 1 000 BC. Paul discussed grafting between the “good” and the “wild” olive tree with the Romans (Romans 11: 17-24). This art was passed on from generation to generation and the methods of grafting and budding published in 1891 (Bailey), differ very little from the methods used today. Today many of the fruit industries utilise grafting to great effect. This valuable horticultural method could have great value for the litchi industry as well. In this article we shall briefly indicate the value to other crops from using rootstocks and some of the current problems of the SA litchi industry that might be addressed by a
rootstock trial.