Joanie

The heat wave broke here, and we expect it to be fairly cool for a few weeks, (and it never really gets hot anyway) so I took some cuttings today. The two twisted pomegranates which are 4 year old cuttings themselves, from Jim Barrett, have grown like weeds. It was time to thin the branches anyway, as they seem to have a habit of growing branches in clusters, which causes reverse taper later. The lower part of these 4 year olds is already twisting and interesting.

So I prepared a little propagation tray, (which had croissants from the bakery in it) and punched a lot of holes in it. Then mixed Aussie Gold fine mix and perlite (about 3/4 perlite to 1/4 AG) which has good drainage, but enough organic mix to keep them damp when the weather dries out.

One of the mistakes that beginners seem to make, is to use cuttings that are too small or too young. Pomegranates can "strike" from fairly large branches, so you know that it's probably safe to use cuttings that are fairly thick. These varied from about half the size of a pencil, to half of that. I removed all of the lower leaves, and then cut the top off, leaving only a few clusters of leaves. Then cut the larger remaining leaves in half. I then used a clean, new exacto knife to make a very clean, sharp, slanted cut at the bottom. You can't cut them all in one go, you have to whittle at them a bit. Then inserted them into the propagation tray. No rooting hormone. Every time I use rooting hormone, I kill something, but without it I have a reasonable strike rate.

Just for variety, I wired some of the cuttings before inserting them. Trying to envision the growth of the wood, and following it in a natural looking way, I hope to really get some good movement going.

Also did some English Hawthorn.

Now, the questions.....

1. When doing cuttings on a tree that has thorns, is it all right to remove the thorns in the areas that you are also removing leaves (the part that will go under the soil)?

2. It is better, or worse, or doesn't matter, if you cut the young top off of the cutting when you are preparing it?

3. Does anyone else commonly wire their cuttings, and if so, do you have any tips? There was an article or two in Bonsai Today about wiring cuttings, but I wasn't sure about it.

Yes, it's sort of asking after the deed is done, but there will always be other opportunities for cuttings if these don't survive.

Thank you!

Joanie

Attached Images

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