Im getting ready to attend my first scion exchange and have a list of fruiting plants i want to graft or propagate. My main question is which plants are suitable for rooting a dormant hardwood propagation. Im interested in the following plants grapes, blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates, figs, and mulberry. Im pretty sure stone fruit and pomme fruit are too difficult propagate via rooting a hardwood cutting.
Any techniques for increasing success is appreciated.
There are some great threads on here for rooting figs
Yes,;grapes, blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates, figs, and mulberry.
Will all root from cuttings, some varietys easyer than others.
Pome ,stone fruits I would graft /bud.
You can absolutely root cuttings. Lots of reasons too, even. But for ME: i am in my 40s. First kid leaves for college this year, next one in 3 yrs…and half my growing was for them.
I may be too cheap to buy a tree of every single thing i may want, but i also dont have the time to hardwood-root the things i can spend $2-3 a rootstock for.
Not saying do or dont, just throwing more variables out there–cuttings are near-free but do take time. Thats one thing for currants, but an entirely different consideration for say pears.
speaking of which, was wondering if anyone here has used the more expensive rooting hormones listed by google below (more than 30$), or if anyone may have data about success rates using cheap ones versus the more expensive products?
A valuable source of information:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Horticultural-Society-Propagation-Plant/dp/0789441160
For the hardwood cuttings of Blueberry,take them during late Winter or early Spring,before they start growing.Put them in a baggie of damp Peat moss,with an angled cut at the bottom end of each one.Make the pieces about 4-6 inches long.
Keep them in a refrigerator until it warms up to about 60F outside and then stick them about 2-3 inches in a mix of damp Peat and Perlite,preferably in a container with a cover,like a dome.Give them filtered light,so they don’t get too hot,especially if covered and start misting the leaves when they begin to grow.Keeping the leaves wet until roots are growing,is likely,the most important part.Brady
PS Oregon State U. found no benefit using a root hormone with Blueberry cuttings.
I find rooting pomegranates and figs pretty easy, I just cover the top part of the cutting with stretched parafilm and stick it in a pot. The key is to use tall pots like 4" x 9", then the bottom part of the cutting and roots will not rot. No rooting hormones used. Basically, the method is the same as described here in more detail: https://threefoldfarm.org/blog/simple-fig-propagation.
I guess mulberries can be rooted similarly, but I have a huge old male mulberry tree with a lot of water sprouts, so I just graft mulberry cuttings to them.
A very good tutorial on rooting grapes is on (the former) Lon Rombough’s website:
http://www.bunchgrapes.com/rooting_of_cuttings.html
I got cuttngs from Lon maybe 30 yrs ago, when I was very new to grapes and propagation and had high success following his instructions (on paper back then!). Sue
I have successfully rooted grapes and lemons.
Another thing to try is fog propagation. In addition to Blueberry,I’ve rooted cuttings of a number of plants this way.
It may cost a little more money for setup,but the leaves are taken care of and hey,the baby sitter needs to get paid a little.
Foggers can be bought on Ebay,complete with transformer for about $10. Brady
I did some air layers on figs last year, and honeyberries. You set up and come back in 6 weeks. Easy as long as it’s sealed well and you have the right moisture, not too much not too little. you can also keep them open too. I’m not around to water, so the sealed method works better for me. Anyway I talked to another guy who says it works on blueberries. No harm to try, either it does or doesn’t take. Some girdle the limb, but just scoring it should be enough. I never girdled any figs or honeyberries (I did nothing, not even score). I’m going to try it next year.
Last year I got a couple of mulberry scion to root. Shangri la rooted easily, beautiful leaves on it. It grew like crazy, about 4 1/2 feet by the end of the year.
Here it is about 2 feet tall.
I have some mulberry cuttings and want to know which method or how did you root your mulberry cuttings.
I’m still experimenting. Currently I just use Pro-mix, some old rooting hormone, I score the scion an inch or so at the root end. I wrap in parafilm, except the root area. I’m going to try another product here this next year, buddy tape. I use bottom heat, and they are under lights. I will root them outside in the spring too.
Mulberries that are hard to root, or other plants like blueberries, a misting system is the way to go, unless you can do air layers off of original plant, makes life easier.
Thanks Drew that will help a lot.
Tim here from Threefold Farm (the site you linked). Glad that you found that method successful! As you mention, no rooting hormones necessary or even helpful, at least for figs. We’ve had very good success with it and will continue to use it.
