I’ve just been digging up some Viburnum trilobum plants I layered last year (or was it the year before? time flies) and it reminded me that any time is a good time to do some layering (the best time is in early spring before the buds open, but that really isn’t that long now). If you don’t already know about it layering is a pretty much foolproof propagation method that works with many different plants, including many that are reluctant to root from cuttings.
Start layering by selecting a flexible dormant shoot of last years wood and bending it sharply 12 inches from the tip. This may cause some of the fibers to crack, but that’s okay because wounded areas tend to root more easily (you can also scrape some of the bark from underneath the bend - wounding isn’t essential though). You then bury the bent part of the shoot by digging a small hole, holding the stem down and putting the soil back on top to hold it down. If it tries to pull out of the ground you can use a sharpened forked stick to hold it down (this will also help to mark it). That’s it, just ensure that the soil doesn’t dry out completely and wait. An optional further step is to tie the growing tip to a stake so it grows upright (like this).
Layering is so simple and easy it’s a great introduction to plant propagation. Go out you’re your garden after you finish reading this and spend an hour or two going around burying branches. Next year you will thank me as you go around digging up all of your new plants (don’t forget to do some more).
I haven't propagated many woody plants by root cuttings, except accidentally. I've moved Black Locust and Toona and had a clump on new trees come up on the old site. Thanks for the articles, they will give me something else to experiment with this winter.
ReplyDeleteHere's the correct link - https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B4z8GE1bbsDjSGNsNDdMRmV2SzA/edithttps://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B4z8GE1bbsDjSGNsNDdMRmV2SzA/edit
ReplyDeleteWith the success that I had, I decided to start a "pot" garden. Whenever we buy bare root trees and shrubs, we pot them up before we plant them out so that we can monitor their adjustment to having been uprooted. When we see root growth at the holes in the bottom of the pots, we plant them out. With this year's drought, we didn't feel comfortable planting them out and so kept them in pots all summer long. When the drought broke in September, we decided to sink the pots into the ground in a "pot" garden rather than plant them out. Next spring we'll dig up the pots, tease a few roots loose for cuttings which we'll pot up in plastic bag covered pots, and then plant out the well established plants. We'll learn a lot about which of our trees/shrubs can and can't be propagated from root cuttings and hopefully have a number of additions to our garden.
https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B4z8GE1bbsDjSGNsNDdMRmV2SzA/edit
DeleteAn interesting project to actually find out for yourself, I'd be interested to here how it goes
DeleteI guess another reason I haven't done much with root cuttings of woody plants is that most trees are grafted, so you are propagating the rootstock rather than the tree.