The Surinam cherry is a native fruit from Brazil with a great potential for commercial production. However, the common clonal propagation methods have not given a high percentage of success. The present work had the aim to test the use of two types of grafting: cleft graft and wedge graft as well as the best time to use this technique (July, August and September), under Southern Brazil conditions. The experiment was carried out at EMBRAPA Clima Temperado, in Pelotas, RS, in the year of 2005. The experimental design was completely randomized arranged as a 2x3 factorial plan (type of grafting x time), with 5 replications . It was concluded that both types of grafting could be used, during the winter time, for asexual propagation of Surinam cherry. Cleft grafting had the highest percentage of survival (60%) when compared to the wedge grafting (44.2%). The highest percentage of grafting success was obtained in September with 67.5%, followed by the months of August and July, with 51.3% and 37.5%, respectively.
Eugenia uniflora; Myrtaceae; Vegetative propagation
