Recently we propagated sugarcane cuttings two ways at ECHO North America RIC.
Both sets of cuttings were cut to 5 nodes from mature cane and allowed to harden off on the table for several days.
The first set was then put in a 5 gallon bucket of water. The water levels covered the bottom 2-3 nodes on each cutting. The bucket was placed in a semi-shaded location in our Greenhouse. It started pushing buds and roots very quickly and we potted them up about 2 weeks later.
The second set was stuck in soil media with no additional treatment. Soil covered the bottom 2-3 nodes and they were placed in the same semi-shaded location in the Greenhouse as the first set. They also started to push buds quickly and were also potted up about 2 weeks later.
We observed less roots and shorter roots on the soil rooted cuttings.
So far all the plants are growing well.
I have also propagated in place by just laying a cane in a shallow trench and lightly nicking it in even intervals with a machete and not quite burying it. Check out this IFAS resource for more information about Florida commercial sugarcane production and pests PI-171/PI207: Florida Crop/Pest Profile: Sugarcane.
What has been your sugarcane propagation experience?
Other ECHO Observations on Propagation
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@Keith_Mikkelson shared recently a technique that he developed to reduce the wastage of sugarcane stalk in the Phillipines.
The technique involved nicking out semi-circles of the stem around the nodes, which can then be propagated. This reported benefit is a reduction in the ‘wasted’ saleable stem of sugarcane used for propagation.
Keith, do you have any more points on pros and cons of this method?
See here an exmaple of a home made tool to take the ‘cuttings’ from the stem:
See here an example of the final cuttings, with some printer ink cartridges for scale:
Thanks @Shaun_Snoxell for sharing this technique. We will have to give it a try in our nursery. Are the micro cuttings placed in soil or a different substrate?
Download the SSI manual here…
In india Coco coir/dust but I have tested 4 other media…
We tried it out in the Propagation Nursery at ECHO Florida.
Micro cuttings taken in early October.
Half buried in our seedling mixture and placed inside of a poly propagator.
Removed late November. 100% take.
We appreciated how many plants we got out of a small amount of cutting material. We are excited to see how they grow on from now and if their small starting size impacts speed to sale in a container nursery setting.
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in northern Cameroun central Africa. I would like to not just grow sugar cane, but also process the sugar at home. to get sugar sap syrup or sugar sap crystals after boiling. Shouldn’t be too much different from making maple syrup, should it?.
I participated very briefly in the process in southern Mexico in 1974 but will have to re-invent the details
