Putting size on old wood

[NickityNic]

Hey
Just thought ide ask the crowd and see if anyone knows about this issue im having. Im finding that old wood (on cuttings etc) wont thicken up at nearly the same rate as new wood. Ive got a bunch of cuttings which are all developing reverse taper due to the top new growth thickening quicker than the old wood at the base.
Has anyone noticed this? Will the old wood catch up or am i just learning a lesson?
Cheers everybody

[Albo]

Put up some pictures to give everyone an idea of what’s happening but from your description sounds like they are young cuttings? Probably be more worried about just letting them develop and get strong.
You’ll be able to pick a new thinner leader later on and delete the unwanted branches. That will give you your desired taper.
Generally more than two branches in one spot will create swelling in that area.

[TimIAm]

Without pics this is just a guess on what may be happening. Based on my experience this can happen if you only have one leader, once the cutting starts to push out growth it pushes the growth out through that single point and that growth can exceed the woody part of the original cutting. I find this happens particularly if the single point of growth is at the top of the cutting and more-so if you have cut the top/end off the cutting. This example was a single bud adjacent to the cut site:

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I find you can get better results if you have an existing 'side branch', which is not really a full on branch yet, but you can see what I mean here:

existing.jpg

In that case, if the top starts to get ugly, you can remove it and just use the side branch as the new leader. I usually don't do this immediately. I like to wait until I know the cutting has really taken and has started pushing out new growth on the side branch. Just like any sacrifice branch, you can remove it (the top) at any time and no need to rush; the health of the cutting is more important.

Even better option is multiple side buds. Then you can have a new leader as well as a new side branch and also remove the top / keep as sacrifice. Example:

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