Summer Cuttings Of Trees And Shrubs - Myths And Real Experience. General Principles, Mistakes. Photo

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Summer Cuttings Of Trees And Shrubs - Myths And Real Experience. General Principles, Mistakes. Photo
Summer Cuttings Of Trees And Shrubs - Myths And Real Experience. General Principles, Mistakes. Photo

Video: Summer Cuttings Of Trees And Shrubs - Myths And Real Experience. General Principles, Mistakes. Photo

Video: Summer Cuttings Of Trees And Shrubs - Myths And Real Experience. General Principles, Mistakes. Photo
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As a child, I was delighted with a fairy tale, where the main character cleverly hid from the chase - he stuck branches from a bush into the ground, and a dense, impenetrable green forest immediately grew behind him. I've been experimenting with twigs since I was four (and continue to this day). So, summer cuttings are a great opportunity to get a young seedling of the desired variety. The procedure is simple, fast and almost always it is possible even for beginners. Unsuccessful grafting is due to an obvious disregard for its basic principles. More on this later.

Summer cuttings of trees and shrubs - myths and real experiences
Summer cuttings of trees and shrubs - myths and real experiences

Content:

  • General principles of summer cuttings
  • The specifics of summer cuttings of some trees and conifers
  • Reasons for unsuccessful propagation of plants in summer

General principles of summer cuttings

1. Everything in good time

Cuttings need time to "ripen" before cutting. After grafting, the twig takes time to take root, adapt and prepare for winter.

How to understand that the cutting can be cut and rooted? Just. He is still young, but already has a hard bark. These can be ripe shoots of this year or last year. It is necessary to start cuttings when the sap flow has already ended, and the berry bushes are cut after the fruits appear. Ornamental shrubs are ready for grafting one to two weeks after flowering.

The easiest way to determine the readiness for grafting of a rose: if the thorn easily breaks off when pressed to the side - feel free to cut the cuttings!

Although the terms are conditional, and for each type of plant they are selected individually. For example, I cut gooseberries from mid-June to early August. I can propagate the currants before flowering in June with last year's shoots. Conifers - until the third decade of June, it is already necessary to cuttings. Hazel, lilac and hydrangea will be ready to produce good cuttings at the end of June. If you plant them in August, then the new plants will not have time to get stronger by winter and will not transfer it in the open field.

If the thorn of a rose breaks off easily when pressed to the side - feel free to cut the cuttings
If the thorn of a rose breaks off easily when pressed to the side - feel free to cut the cuttings

2. The right environment is necessary for root formation

In water, cuttings of most bushes and trees give roots reluctantly, they rot.

Never plant cuttings in fertilized and organic soil. Such a trick will take place only in the south, there - wherever you stick a stick, it will germinate anyway.

In the open field or at home, the cuttings root in light and poor soil.

In my experience, high moor peat with sand in a 1: 1 ratio is best. Sand can be replaced with perlite or vermiculite. Conifers, such as juniper, root well in sphagnum (this is moss).

3. Preparation of the cutting

Oblique cuts, straight cuts, above the kidney, under the kidney, cut with a knife, only cut with a pruner - what you just read from advisers on the Internet.

I'll tell you a secret: the difference in which cut and where is not so significant. The following matters: on top there should be a few buds potentially ready to sprout, and on the bottom - enough space for roots to form, but not too much so that the excess does not rot.

The optimal length of the cutting is from 5 cm to 10 cm. We bury it in the ground by 1.5-3 cm, depending on the thickness of the twig (the thicker, the deeper).

My practice shows that there is no difference: obliquely or evenly, the stalk was stuck into the ground. Perhaps this is important for large planting volumes and a limited area, when it is better for plants to grow closely from a tilted cutting. My amateur landings are never cramped.

I almost always cut the leaves. A piece of a petiole or even a petiole with a part of a leaf can be left near a rose, currant, lilac, mock orange and other bushes. They make it easier to track how rooting takes place, and the process of photosynthesis is important for a plant.

Cuttings can be stored for a very long time in a damp cloth in a cool place: a couple of weeks, even months.

On the lower part of the cutting, where the roots are planned, it is advisable to make a couple of scratches on the bark. If the bark is too thick, you can even cut a small strip of a few millimeters around the entire circumference. I always cover thick cuttings with wax on top so that they do not dry out too much.

Alcohol when grafting is completely unnecessary. The tool that makes an even cut (secateurs or a knife - it doesn't matter) must be washed with soap and water before work and rinsed in a strong solution of potassium permanganate. In general, my experience shows that keeping the cuttings in potassium permanganate for a couple of minutes is not a sin. This is especially true of gooseberry, currant and rose twigs.

On the lower part of the cutting, where the roots are planned, it is advisable to make a couple of scratches on the bark
On the lower part of the cutting, where the roots are planned, it is advisable to make a couple of scratches on the bark

4. Cuttings need greenhouse conditions

You can argue, they say, there was a case, without any shelter, a cutting was taken and grew beautifully. Agree. It happens.

Attention! Remarkably, without any greenhouses in the middle lane, willow, hazel, lilac, chubushnik, acacia take root.

Most plants need a greenhouse, a shelter that protects them from temperature fluctuations and moisture loss in the soil, protecting them from the scorching sun.

It is very convenient to cover the stalk with a cut-off plastic bottle. Just make sure that there is enough room for him, and he does not touch the walls.

For a large number of cuttings, a mini-greenhouse is made on arcs, close enough to the ground (30-40 cm), placing the film. You can make a box for cuttings and cover it with glass.

We ventilate the mini-greenhouse in good weather by slightly lifting the edges of the film or glass. It will be possible to remove the film only when the cuttings are rooted and confidently start to grow. Gradually we accustom them to the sun during the day, and to a cold snap at night.

Cuttings of conifers in open ground will be grateful if at first you cover them with wet white paper bags and only then stretch the film or cover with glass.

During rooting, the soil should always be moderately moistened.

It is very convenient to cover the stalk with a cut-off plastic bottle
It is very convenient to cover the stalk with a cut-off plastic bottle

5. Stimulants of root formation - optional

All living things want to live!

The natural stimulus for the formation of roots is already the fact that the branch is separated from the mother bush and placed in the soil. Therefore, the roots are formed without external stimulation.

As for "Kornevin", "Heteroauxin" and similar drugs, I will say: a good thing, if you do not overdo it. With stimulants, the percentage of established plants is, of course, higher.

The results of cuttings can only be assessed after a couple of weeks. In some cases, you will have to wait a month or even a month and a half until shoots appear on the new plant - a symbol of success.

In short, these are all the basic principles of summer cuttings.

This is how fruit and ornamental shrubs, including roses, multiply.

Attention! Cuttings of some trees and conifers in summer have specific features.

Gooseberries three weeks after cuttings
Gooseberries three weeks after cuttings

The specifics of summer cuttings of some trees and conifers

Some trees and conifers are harder to cut than shrubs.

Out of inexperience, I tried several times to "plant" branches of apple and pear, taken from a chic neighbor's garden. Alas and ah … they do not take root. Such trees can be propagated by layering. Root twigs without cutting them off from the mother tree. Only after the roots appear, the cutting can be separated.

Trees and conifers are cuttings as soon as active sap flow has ended (end of May-first half of June). The stalk is cut green from above and already barked from below. The growing point (the very top of the cutting) is cut off.

In order for the roots of the cuttings to form actively, the tip of the coniferous cutting must be slightly split, because the resin clogs the cut, preventing any interaction with the environment.

Perhaps, in nurseries, coniferous plants are cut all year round. There would be a suitable material. But I believe that only young branches are suitable for the cutting, such as we have in the middle lane only in May-June.

Cutting juniper "in a snail"

Of all my experiments with conifers, the most successful one is the "snail" cuttings of juniper. I'll tell you if you are in no hurry.

The preparation took half an hour:

  • I cut off a strip of 15 cm from the substrate under the laminate (such a thin polyethylene porous film).
  • I spread moss on this strip (the roots of seedlings are often wrapped with this moss during shipment).
  • Having cut young twigs from a neighbor's young twigs from her gorgeous twenty-year-old juniper on May 25, I laid them with stalks on a prepared base and rolled them into a snail.
  • Before laying the base of the branches, I slightly split (about 5-7 mm). The moss got 2-3 cm from each cutting, the rest was located on top. Naturally, I pinched off the growth points, cut off some of the needles.
  • A rolled up snail, which easily fit in the hand, was put for a short time in a glass with a warm solution of potassium permanganate.
  • The whole structure was placed in a transparent bag, which I tied on top.
  • I made several holes on top of the bag for ventilation.

In the future, it was necessary to rinse the glass every two or three days, add fresh water there.

On June 23, cuttings showed fresh green, barely noticeable shoots. I started the neat airing. I added Kornevin to the glass.

July 25 has already completely removed the package.

On August 15, she unwound the snail. The roots were pretty decent, the longest - 5-7 centimeters.

The plants were transplanted into open ground on August 16.

I huddled for the winter, covered it under a dry air shelter.

Total: cut 15 cuttings. Roots were given 11. After transplanting in the open field, 8. Were overwintered and survived 4 plants. I think this is a good result for an amateur beginner.

Cuttings of conifers "in a snail"
Cuttings of conifers "in a snail"

Reasons for unsuccessful propagation of plants in summer

Even if you did everything right, in your opinion, and the result is not happy, do not be upset. As the classic said, experience is the son of difficult mistakes.

Analyzing my own and others' experience, I can highlight the following possible mistakes in summer cuttings of trees and shrubs.

1. Cutting what does not reproduce by cuttings

Before experimenting, learn at least in principle: do these plants grow from cuttings? Do not even try to propagate cherry, apricot, spruce, larch or fir cuttings. They don't reproduce like that.

2. We are in a hurry, or we are late

It is very difficult at first to choose the time of grafting, the moment of removing the shelter and transplanting to a permanent place. Check with someone knowledgeable if you are not sure. And if you are sure - also listen to what the "experienced" will say. You will then know how competent they are.

3. We take the wrong cuttings and not there

So you want to take a stalk, strong, straight, striving upward, the one that is thicker and stronger than all its fellows. Do not take! Such cuttings take root with difficulty. The twig that grew to the side, bent to the ground, and was shaded by neighboring branches will take root faster. Nature itself intended it for cutting!

I also noticed that if the plant is sleek, it was heavily overfed with manure, it has many new shoots, it grows in a sunny place and feels great - the cuttings rooted from it poorly, many rot.

If you decide to bring a grape cut from Moldova and plant it in the Leningrad region…. Well, it is quite possible to root it in greenhouse conditions or at home, but this seedling is not destined to grow and bear fruit in the open field. Cut plants in your region - the probability of success will increase significantly.

When grafting, the twig that grew to the side, bent to the ground, shaded will take root faster
When grafting, the twig that grew to the side, bent to the ground, shaded will take root faster

4. Forget about leaving

As for small children, cuttings need daily care: airing, watering, and, if necessary, treatment from diseases and pests.

Many times it was like this: I began to actively engage in cuttings. Then they started to grow, I was delighted, relaxed, and the cuttings die from excessive heat in a greenhouse or from a night draft under a film, from insufficient watering or excessive waterlogging as a result of the July downpour. And how many plants died after an incorrectly prepared wintering…. Don't count on chance. Don't repeat my mistakes.

The first year after grafting, you cannot relax your attention!

Finally, I will say: miracles do happen. The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it. It so happens that the most ordinary-looking four-centimeter piece of a currant twig, stuck in the sand, after three summers on the fourth, will give a full bucket of selected large fragrant berries.

Don't believe me? And I collected them today!

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