@swincher, sometimes I wish you didn’t live on the entire other side of the seattle metro area, I would love to hang out and talk plants in person.
Forgot about the blueberries. I find they root so easy if I set them and forget them in the fall at leaf drop. I have given away so many blueberries cuttings I cannot guess to the count. They are also the first to sell out at the PTA plant sale every spring.
If it has actually rooted, I’m not really sure until either roots appear at the bottom or growth is vigorous, but for other types of citrus I’ve tried (trifoliate, yuzu, sudachi, a few others), I usually only see new growth after roots have formed.
That’s impressive. I’ve tried once to root dormant blueberry cuttings with no luck. Do you treat the cuttings with anything before sticking them into the soil? What percent takes to you typically get?
Almost all, unless I get older woody stems. I don’t use any hormone besides IMO microbes grown in leaf litter. I never use sterile starter soil, rough and raw bed soil. Exactly like those redwoods were potted. The new growth is what roots easily. Stan, the pears and plums are starting to wake. Thanks again.
I wish I knew, they were all here when I bought the house. The previous owner said they were planted in 1980 when our house was built. There are eight of them and they’re all different size and flavor. 4 stay short, and 4 get step stool high. I’ve added some new modern cultivars in a different part of my yard. But the ones I usually take cutting from are the big old ones. They are in the floodplain of the creek that bisects my lot. They get silted over and are underwater at least 3/4 of the winter rainy months. I never cut them back once in 17 years until this year. Lucky 18 ha. Last year was the first year they were not brimming with fruit. I cut them back about 80%.
I had a lot of extra cutting this year because I felt like I was committing a crime tossing all those away. I usually just do a couple pots, like 10 sticks. I did a couple trays this year.
I started some hardier pomegranates (mostly for potted ornamentals), gooseberries, currants, jostaberries, hardy kiwi, and figs on 03/15. Dipped in rooting hormone and placed into a mix of peat and perlite under a humidity dome near my veg grow lights.
All the ribes leafed out quickly but the gooseberries dessicated before rooting (still possible they push some buds I’m not seeing). After just over 4 weeks, the black currants, jostas, and white/pink currants rooted pretty well. Gooseberries really do seem much harder to root than other ribes.
The kiwis and poms probably haven’t rooted yet but have lots of healthy leaves and no signs of dessication yet,but since these usually take 6-8 weeks I’ll probably prune some leaves to reduce dessication.
It looks like they are going to be a fail, they arent looking good and should be doing something by now… Im thinking blueberry are easier to root from softwood cuttings.
Sounds like my attempts to root honeyberries. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. On the other hand, I just poked currant and gooseberry sticks into the ground in the fall, and nearly every one rooted.
I’ve just transplanted my josta and green blackcurrant cuttings into a veg patch for the season. Taken in the beginning of march. I normally stick all my currant cuttings without hormone straight between my perennial veg or overwinter garlic/onions, but I only had a few of each.
I have new growth on the cuttings I took when pruning about two months (and a half?) ago. It was hardwood and 8mm to 15mm thick. No hormone. Straight into a hugel bed with clay soil on top. I have a few that I have taken later (- a month) in pots with seedling mix & perlite, but those have no roots yet. (see the right-most cutting in the pot 3 pics above). Green leaves but no roots whatsoever.
I’m also experimenting with growing from seed. So far they are microscopic -as was the seed.
Yes, but I think I only had 2 nodes in soil and 1 above. I also tried last year at the end of May, but failed spectacularly. Although the weather was so great that even my pumpkin seedlings drowned in icy water and hail. So it’s hard to tell if it was about the vegetative stage or chill.