malus cuttings

[astroboy76]

Hey people!

has anyone had any luck propagating crabapples from cuttings? i looked on the net but i seem to get conflicting advice. hardwood cuttings in winter or semi hardwood cuttings in late spring?

anyone want to share their success stories?

[craigw60]

G'day Astro, I find root cuttings from apples to be the best provided they are not grafted trees.
Craigw

[NBPCA]

I used to do hardwood cuttings in winter(no glass house or misting to do in summer) but got a better strike from M profusion than M floribunda.

Root cutting in winter are fabulous; quick and quirky.

Grant

[astroboy76]

the cran i want to propagate is bechtels crabapple. it is grafted so root cuttings arent an option. i took about 12 hardwood cuttings (last years growth) in mid winter. hoping they take!!

[NBPCA]

If we all knew what we were doing with Crabapple we could be charged with "Malice Aforethought"!

[alpineart]

Hi Astro , had good success last year with hardwood cuttings in late spring , currently trying hardwoods from early this winter just taken out of the cold frame and planted out .Some of the smaller ones have struck others haven't .They range from 5mm to 50mm ,all have good buds so they are still green .Species is unknown , extremely old specimen tree on its last legs .

Cutting from last year were about the same size range whilst the larger cuttings do have roots they are only on one side of the base below the leaf/branch node .Just got too try your hand .There is so many variables ,air, temps , mixes moisture etc etc .Cheers Alpine

[Dumper]

another option on what u can do if u dont mind grafted stock is to take root cuttings then when it get healthy then take new shoot cuttings end of winter and graft them.

lol

long process thou.

[Watto]

Is it possible to do an air layer? With crab apple the next best thing to root cuttings are air layers?

[NathanM]

Is it possible to do an air layer? With crab apple the next best thing to root cuttings are air layers?

I'm interested to know this as well. I've got a pretty big one that I scored from Matt (MattA on the forums) recently and I'd like to perhaps layer of he top to create a bit more taper.

[astroboy76]

layering a crab is easy. wait a few weeks until the first flush of growth has hardened off a little then apply the basic technique. should be ready to cut from the main tree mid summer if all goes well but of cos each tree takes its own time to throw roots so be patient and all should be good

[NathanM]

Awesome Well it's hard plenty of growth already, it's starting to harden off. WIll set the layer in a cuple of weeks