Propagating Trees with Cuttings - An important tip

If you have been having a hard time propagating trees with cuttings after soaking them in water for a while, this little tip might be of help.

PS... pay no attention to that piece of fuzz that got caught in my fingernail.

[silentepsilon]

the reason for clipping the ends is to reopen the capillary 'veins' inside the branches that carry the water up into the branches and keep it moistened and alive. When a branch is cut off, the bottom will dry out and shrink, even when it is placed in water and that closes the veins and reduces or even completely stops the ability of capillary action, which is 'sucking' water into the branch. Making a fresh cut at least an inch above the end will expose fresh and still open veins and allow water to enter again. If you ever purchased a christmas tree and the guy asked you 'want a fresh cut', that's for the same reason, open up the end so the tree can absorb more water and last longer.

[teresathayn]

Clip the end at a slant. Dip that tip in water and immediately dip that wet tip in root tone. Place in soil, water slightly now and then. Works for me every time. Good growing!!❤️

[charlieboring]

You want the roots to start before the leaves. So, besides clipping the bottom end at an angle, just below a node; suggest that you scrape off the bottom two nodes that will be below ground just a little to encourage scarring and rooting.

[auxz]

A good way to do is to get some sticks from a willow tree and scratch the sides on then and get a gallon jug with water and put the sicks in the water and let is sit for a week and shake it ever very day until the water turn brownish then remove the sticks and you can use that to soak your cutting and that works like a rooting powder

[MrMawnster]

You don't want them to leaf up....you don't want vegetative growth you just want them to . callus and form roots. They are less likely to do that if energy is going into vegatative

[frankdavidson]

just a tip for folks with cuttings leafing out then dying in water try this it works for me when you see the tiny leaves coming out take them from water scrape off bottom about 1 inch dip in powder take the out side this april now plant them in top soil bed deep with just top leaves sticking out keep the damp the sun will help make them root you will see extra growth on the ones that sprout i am useing red haven peach cuttings about 50% success so far leave them alone after they reach about 12 inchs you can move to the garden

[ofcv]

2:53 “bottom ends of course” was not clear through most of your explanation of technique. It would not surprise me if there is a benefit of aerial clipping as well (if not upon planting, perhaps a week or two after or time of bud swell & breaking). I observed this benefit sometimes & attribute it to adaptation to put out new grow hormones & chemistry when “central leader” wounded or removed.

[BobMelsimpleliving.]

Hope you are right. Keep us updated on the progress. Best wishes Bob.

[johnsmith-qefd]

You have to scrape the bottom skin of the stem about 3 inches up all around and then dip the bottom in root hormone. Also, temperatures make a difference. You also have multiple cuttings in one pot, only one potting per cutting.

[bumblebee]

I have been watching bonsai videos and something that cropped up was air layering. It enables you to root largeish branches while they are still attached to the main tree.
You start by removing a circle of bark round a portion of the branch. You then apply rooting hormone. After that you wrap moist sphagnum moss round the cut and round this you firmly wrap a sheet of plastic and tie it in place.
Apparently this lets water reach the branch giving the new roots a chance to develop. I have watched people do this with decorative maple varieties, also I think I remember seeing my science teachers successfully doing this with a leggy houseplant (a bushy thing).

However this wouldn't help you if you are trying to root cuttings donated by someone else and I am not sure if it works for all trees.

[David__.]

Should you cut all the leaves off a cutting? Approx how long should a tree cutting be? I assume it's different for a new growth cutting and a hardwood cutting? I'm pruning different types of indigenous trees and would like to take multiple cuttings from each branch, if possible.

[akimmbo]

why would you clip the bottoms before planting in soil? isn't that where the roots were growing?

[medicinemom]

I bet it has to do with the extra energy needed to heal the damage. My cuttings have rooted better when I scarified the bottom parts.

[johanconradie]

every cutting deserves its own container from the start: there are so many containers everywhere lying around why not. even pipes: one metre pipes makes an excellent container.

[dustystahn]

Those are leaf buds breaking because they are in a warm environment. There is a 99.9 precent chance that they won't root. If you had used bottom heat in a cold room you might have some success.

[davidunderwood]

You would be better off (when it comes to trees) to learn and experiment with grafting onto root stock. A lot of trees won't root after leafing, but if grafted onto a vigorous root stock, your success will sky rocket and you won't have to worry about weak root systems that you have to baby for 3 or so years. Root stock can be bought cheap especially if it's common like apple trees. I hate to say it, but besides the love of experimenting, unless you are doing this to sell them to someone in the future, sometimes its easier and less time consuming to just buy little trees that are already established. If you wanna blow your mind, get into growing and grafting Japanese Maple cultivars! Selling them is big money.

[KawakebAstra]

.. great post .. trees 🌳 communicate w each other underground 🌲 ..if a plant or tree is meant to be w you it appears or let’s U propagate .. reason U clip bottom ends is to cut off sealed over dead wood is my guess

[aperson]

How would you do the cuttings of plums at this time of the season? I am in Oregon, pretty cold, 65 days and 40 at nights. Plums just bloomed. Do you still have success with this particular rooting hormone? What strength is it?

[frankdavidson]

when you prune your peach trees in the winter save these cuttings cut to about 8 inchs place in water to keep from drying out keep inside from weather you need to cut a lot of these because some will not sprout after several weeks you will see tiny lesves growing take them out they are ready . follow the next comment below you can do this same thing will muscadine cuttings

[MaggYela]

I really needed to see how you clipped them... I will try my best, I am a visual person, thanks for the tip, hoping this time I am successful, usually I kill all plants :(