Wiring your cuttings?

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

cuttings.jpg (42.7 KB, 97 views)

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meushi

Joanie,

No idea for 1) and 3).

For 2), I have read in several places that it was better to remove the unhardened parts on top. It seems logical, as those would dry out fairly quickly and sweat a lot in the process. Up to now, in my limited experience (ornamental cherry tree), the cutting that survived the longest had its top lopped off. In fact, it still looks normal on this day whereas my previous attempts had already dried out after a few days. The previous attempts dried before the heatwave, while this one was started during the heatwave.

Hope that helps,
Mike

Graydon

1) Yes - remove the thorns if you would like. I cut them to a stub when doing pyracantha like this.

2) I don't think it matters. I have had just as much success with the young left on as with cutting it off.

3) I have never wired cuttings. I simply whack the end clean, strip excess leaves and or trim top, dip and stick. The concept to me is just to get them started. There will be plenty of time to wire later after they take and get potted up. To me it seems the wire may add excess weight cuasing the cutting to perhaps move around in any breeze and that may be bad for tiny little roots trying to form. Or not. Let us know how it goes!

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BrianBay9

Since with few exceptions (lonicera?) my success with cuttings is far less than 100%, I don't feel that wiring at this early stage is a productive use of time. I'd wait and see what lives first.

Cheers
Brian

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danrobin

Why wire a cutting? Once the roots have formed and they have been transplanted and are showing new growth, then and only then should you wire and only for trunk shape. Over exaggerate the bends as when the plant grows it will straighten back out somewhat, make it look silly. Wire can and should be allowed to cut into the bark somewhat on these first wirings, let it scar, the tree is young enough that it will recover but the thickening is drastically accelerated by doing this as the scars and resulting callous will thicken the trunk.


Once the cutting is a year or more old, the wire scars take longer to heal.


Dan Robin