Propagation by Cuttings: Spring Field Notes

lilac propagated from softwood a couple years ago, small because it's in this small pot but cool to see it flowering. next month I'm taking on a conservation project to try and save/ catalog / propagate a collection of rare lilac cultivars, kind of exciting.

double working, nadia on an interstem. nadia is a unique sweet cherry hybrid, and seems somewhat hardy to zone 3, and it can grow on its own roots. so grafts like this are for experimental softwood propagation, I did a whole set this spring about three weeks ago and they're just starting to leaf out,

chokecherry as prunus rootstock for softwood production. double worked with interstems, this is a trial to root several hybrid plums from their softwood material. eurasia, delicate, kuban comet, mara, podarok st. petersburg. haven't heard of those? most are russian hybrids, some very complex. all seem to survive in zone 3, all have a good chance of growing as own root plum trees building on the success I've had with toka.

grapes breaking dormancy from rooted hardwood cuttings #grapes

new hardwood cuttings arrived today, slightly sprouted but mostly dormant even after nearly a month in transit. exposing cambium for iba talc application and then onto bottom heat under lights.

rooted hardwood starting to grow under lights.

checking up on our hardwood cuttings, too hot on those unregulated heat mats! we want the root zone to be around 15-25C (60-75F). still learning this process, I found most cuttings overheated on the bottom couple of inches - I had them pushed right to the bottom - so to fix they were trimmed and restuck - only down to 2-3 inches from the bottom. In one bin the heat created a dry layer just along the bottom, more water was needed. If you use this method, use a thermostat with a soil probe.

here’s my indoor setup for sprouted hardwood. will see how well it works, last year currants and elderberry responded well, the humidity bags kept leafy growth turgid and most rooted within a few weeks. I seem to have a better result with this approach than a cold room, always AB testing. #propagation

cuttings leafing out, hopefully already have enough root development.

hardwood cuttings in bags to hold onto moisture. these are in tall pots on bottom heat, in my grow room at 22C. I started with elderberry, and also attempting some Ribes . Once they root I leave the bag on for a week just loosely on top and then monitor the leaves, once it’s off if there’s any sign of drooping it gets misted and back in the bag. Btw you can do the same with mist propagation, if your cuttings begin to wilt just put them back in the mist and they’ll usually recover and become turgid again. last photo is rooted elderberry growing fast. #propagation

boreal blizzard stock block. the larger bush was courtesy of our trip to the u of sask fruit program last summer, one of their field grown plants 100% known to be true to type. the small plants rooted from it are now planted out in a grid to create a decent mass of growth points to collect softwood. It doesn't need to be a 50ft row for our scale, just this 2x4 ft space can make hundreds of cuttings. there's a 50 cent royalty on each that goes to the fruit program to support continued breeding, happy to be a part of it.

a couple beds of haskap and black currant, a good result from softwood propagated last year, they’ll be decent kind of gallon pot size by fall, exactly the size I want. If the cuttings are done early they seem to have a high percentage overwinter, late softwood may root but the plants often won’t survive, at least in my experience with a short growing season. My goal this year is to make all softwood cuttings before the summer solstice, and get everything rooted and hardened off as early in the summer as possible.

currant, gooseberry hardwood cuttings in gallon grow bags under lights, establishing new stock plants. I would move them to the greenhouse if I had the room, greenhouse addition is on my list after planting is done. for new plants like this they should be carefully moved outside, in the shade for at least a week is a good strategy. I plan to keep these in pots until they get trimmed for softwood cuttings in a few weeks. this propagation method is an exciting way to garden over winter, and start the season with new cultivars just from hardwood received in the mail. #propagation

attempting pin cherry, Prunus pensylvanica from root cuttings.

manchurian apricot softwood can root, here’s westcot apricot on it’s own roots from last fall. with enough stock material for cuttings in early june, this could be a way to propagate apricot rootstocks. maybe.

black currant hardwood cuttings shipped with some damp paper towel around the base, creates the perfect moisture level and conditions for some quick rooting. this winter I experimented with several indoor setups for rooting hardwood for currants, gooseberry, grapes, figs, mulberry, elderberry. I found best results with: 1. no bottom heat 2. room temperature 3. deep pots of loose medium high in perlite 4. bagged tops with poly or opaque plastic grocery bag, to retain humidity while the top leafs out ahead of the roots. 5. 4000ppm iba talc 6. moisture is key, medium should be just minimal damp. in every case where medium was too damp, the cutting cambium would die and sometimes roots formed at the high humidity area above the medium. conclusion: my setups were initially too hot and wet. take this photo as an example, no bottom heat, no hormone, no watering, just trapped humidity. #propagation

a good indication that my medium was too wet for this tall currant cutting, it only rooted at the surface. My 60:40 peat:perlite mix seems too hold too much moisture, next year will AB test some 80:20 .. still getting my legs with hardwood #propagation

wow this currant has some nice roots after just ten days. I like the heavy rooting cultivars, this one is boskoop giant .. #propagation

starting more grapes from hardwood collected from a friend. it’s challenging to grow grapes in zone 3 but it can be done with the right conditions and varieties.. for years I had given up on grapes but now have a renewed interest. going to attempt rooting in my grow room in deep pots with the tops bagged, to be transferred to a greenhouse next month. We hit -7C last night so I’m not brave enough to put anything green and leafy in the greenhouse yet, though all the germinated seeds out there were fine.

riverbank grape selection rooted cutting. moved from bottom heat into its own pot and bagged to harden off. if you have cuttings with a small amount of roots and to reduce watering / moisture loss when propagating high value plants you can use the bag method. #propagation

Elderberry from hardwood cuttings at 12 weeks. started indoors under lights, now coming up on our last frost date in a couple weeks they’re 3 ft tall and ready to plant out. this worked so well next winter might find my grow room full of hardwood cuttings getting a head start. #propagation

hardwood cuttings started inside, a few ft of growth! we still get frost here for a few more weeks so these will get potted up and live in the greenhouse for a while.

lilacs rooted under mist last July. These only has a couple months before frost last year so I was happy to see they’re well rooted. They all found a home as a hedge at our daughter’s place on the weekend. Mostly I think our rooted softwood cuttings will need 1.5 growing seasons in a bed before they’re ready to transplant, especially types that might need 8 weeks to root they’re being planted out in august. Lilacs were one of the easiest to root perennials last summer. #propagation #permaculture

Lilac and currants are first to leaf out in our raised beds. These were softwood propagated under mist last summer. #propagation #gardening #horticulture #plants

out collecting red osier dogwood cuttings. These are mostly for my own use, some will go into nursery beds, some will get planted out and I’ll also have them available on our website to ship inside Canada. www.oaksummitnursery.ca #dogwood #hardwoodcuttings #propagation

collecting hardwood cuttings today. Balsam poplar grow in a few patches around our forest so I hiked out to find them and just trim branches, making it a sustainable way to collect cuttings #hardwoodcuttings #balsampoplar