CLONAL FORESTRY OF Piptocarpha angustifolia: SURVIVAL AND GROWTH VIGOR IN FIELD CONDITIONS

ABSTRACT Piptocarpha angustifolia is a potential native species for Brazilian forestry. However, a lot of challenges and technical constraints persist, hindering its expansion as a species for forest plantations, among them, the lack of evaluation of their survival and growth in field conditions. Thus, we evaluated the survival and growth vigor of Piptocarpha angustifolia according to two initial heights of mini-cuttings at planting. Plants from mini-cuttings with 20 ± 5 cm and 40 ± 5 cm were planted in field using 3 × 2 m spacing. In these, we evaluated the survival, base diameter and total height during 24 months. The experiment was implemented in a completely randomized design in a split plot model. Plants of 20 ± 5 cm are superior in survival to 40 ± 5 cm ones. The growth in height and diameter remained constant up to 24 months, reaching 64.1 cm and 13.5 mm, independently of the plants expedition time. In general, the establishment of clonal plantation of Piptocarpha angustifolia was limited by the attack of pests, mainly cutting ants. For this reason, plantation of this species must take into account the possibility of greater pest control.