Tree propagation from cuttings

Anyone have success planting a tree this way?





I've never tried it

I do it all the time with willows. Works like a charm.

I was under the impression though that down here, there is only a handful of tree species that this method works well on.

never have

Don't know about spruce but it won't work on any of our southern yellow pines.

With the exception of willows and elderberries I can't think of many tree species that readily root from hardwood cuttings. Hazelnuts can be propagated by stooling and is the way they are produced in the nursery trade. Stooling is cutting back an established tree to encourage root suckers and then piling sawdust up around the stump so that the suckers root into the medium.

There are likely other trees that stooling would work with.

Air layering is basically the same process except instead of putting soil around the roots, you select branches off the mother tree peel bit a bit of bark and surround it with a ball of soil. After some time, roots develop and you cut the branch below the soil ball and plant the ball. Lot of fruit, nut and ornamental shrubs can be grown that way.

Have only done azalea, but have done a few hundred.

Air layering is a darn good way to propagate roses if you're so inclined.

In the nursery trade, the only way that I ever had any success rooting conifers, was to take the cuttings after at least two or three hard frosts in the fall. Wound the base of the cutting and then treat them with the strongest indobuteric acid that you can get. Plant them deep in a cold frame and don't disturb them for two years. This resulted in 10 to 20% success if you were lucky, and depending on the species that you were working with.

That's sounds incredibly complicated with dismal results

I might try it on aspen

https://nativetreesfromseed.com/grow/tree-recipes/aspen#:~:text=Aspen%20doesn't%20often%20produce,aspen%20grows%20readily%20from%20cuttings

I take hundreds of elderberry cuttings annually. Have recently got into fig cuttings as well. I've had great success with air layering roses and blackberries. Tip layering is a good option too.

Osage Orange ie: Hedge Apple, were commonly used as fence post's due to their natural rot resistance, and many of those post's took root and grew leading to "Hedge Rows", and wind breaks.

My recent red osier dogwood cuttings have started sprouting in the 5 gallon pail of water, so at this point I'll wait until ~mid April to plant them.

My red osier dogwood cuttings from this winter are doing amazing in a 5 gallon pail in the house. I'm not sure when to plant them outside

Did they leaf out in the house?

I had good luck taking aspen cuttings from new growth and just sticking in the ground. That is, every place that the deer didn’t or couldn’t get to them to eat them.

I also did a bunch of willow that way as well. I just cut a bunch back the previous year so I had a ton of new shoots to clip and plant the following year.

Neighbor has commercially for two generations.
Some (cedars) are easier than others (rhododendrons).
His one partner has a fortune invested (Penn State U).
Any plant I show him, he IDs it.
Those guys hate rodents including deer.

Have seen cut willow wood sprout in rain, hint try willow water.

It is an everyday job of maintaining temp and moisture.
50 some degrees, boiler lines under beds.

Know another lady that did orchids.
Much hotter $$ environment, and tough.

I been trying ground layering Jap Maple with not much luck.
Trying for two trees that do not get large or make much mess.

Yes

The last couple weeks my red dogwood cuttings in the 5 gallon pail aren't doing so well. Maybe I need to get 'em in the ground before they die. They were looking fantastic a few weeks ago. I lack experience w/ cuttings.

AJE what you are experiencing is not uncommon. The cuttings themselves retain enough energy to put on a flush of new growth. This can easily be views as "doing great" when they are using their stored energy to push out buds & leaves while not actually putting out roots. I'm a strong advocate for rooting hormone. If I'm going to put in the effort to take cuttings, I want to give them the best possible chance to survive. When I take cuttings that already have leaves, I typically trim all the leave off except for 1. Also, smaller cutting tend to be more successful for us (depending on what we are cutting) 4-6 buds is all that is usually needed.

Is rooting hormone just a root stimulator? I have root stimulator in the garage that I bought from a place that I bought apple trees from years ago

Thanks.
I may not know til next year if my red osier dogwood cuttings succeeded. They did develop some roots prior to planting.
Everything went droopy though, after doing superb.

1 thing I like about cuttings is ya aren't out much if they sometimes don't work.

Is this the rooting hormone you all are talking about? I saw it at the store today

I cut some elderberry limbs in early March, made 18 plantings from them. Every one of them has growth starting.

Anyone ever try cottonwood or popular.

Cottonwood is easy to propagate by cuttings with rooting hormone. Cottonwood grows very quickly here. It makes good butts for axe throwing and nice wide sheeting for barns. I've never tried poplar, because we don't have any near me, that aren't planted.

Elderberry, honeysuckle, raspberry, grape, lilac and willow have been the easiest for me to root without rooting hormone. Peach, blueberry, hazelnut and pear work at low levels, with rooting hormone in my experience. Cottonwood, black locust,, mulberry Osage Orange, roses and cottonwood are pretty easy with rooting hormone.

Keith

Thanks!
I cut some today and will try to get them to root just in water. Will it work I don't have root hormone application.

The instruction for spruce are exactly how we root azalea.

Anothah question is propagate in water does the water need to be place in sun or inside a building which would be darker?

I would use root hormone on the cottonwood cuttings, put them in a soil less potting mix, tent over them with clear plastic and place them where they only get indirect sunlight.

Cottonwood does grow very easily from seed too. The people caddy corner to me on the state highway have cottonwood trees in their front yard and any disturbed soil I have has a good chance of getting cottonwood seedlings growing in it, when the cotton is blowing around.

Keith

In water inside a building with a good window exposing the sun (if you don't stick them straight in the ground right away). If you want to get fancy I suppose you could use a grow light.

AJE >> thank you.

Any of you ever try it on sand plums?

Domestic plums are fairly easy with rooting hormone and pencil sized cuttings. I've never tried rooting sand plum cuttings, because I don't have access to any.

Oklahoma University has a PDF on sand plums.

https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/print-publications/hla/sand-plums-for-home-and-commercial-production-hla-6258.pdf#:~:text=Sand%20plums%2C%20also%20known%20as%20Chickasaw%20plum%2C%20Cherokee,making%20jams%2C%20jellies%2C%20and%20wine%20from%20the%20fruit.

They recommend using a misting system to keep sand plum cuttings moist. I would plant a bunch.of cuttings, treated with rooting hormone and see how it goes. If you have long term access to the trees, it might be good to air layer them.

Keith

So am I wasting my time then? They were absolutely flourishing in the pail, then it was as if they ran out of steam & died or maybe just got confused & went dormant. They even had put out roots. I did get half of 'em in the ground while they were still flourishing but then they went droopy kind of like the ones in the water pail. I did notice deer already ate 3 of the branches off 1 of them.

I tried something new tonight. These are aspen cuttings

Let us know how they work out.