Induction of branches

It has been observed that to achieve a high rate of girth increase, the rubber plant should produce branches at a height of about 2.5 to 3.0 m from the ground. In high branching trees, girth increment has been found to be poor compared to low branching trees. Some plants show a tendency for high branching, particularly clones like RRIM 600 and GT 1. In such cases branching has to be induced by encouraging a few lateral buds to develop. Double blade ring cut device and the leaf cap method can be utilized for this.