cutting lesson learned

[astroboy76]

Hey guys,

Not sure if this has been anyone elses experience but i thought i would share a few things that i have learned through experience in relation to cuttings.

I took a great many Prunus Mume hardwood cuttings in winter and stuck them in pots. quite a large number calloused and a fair few grew roots. Of these that grew roots many have since shrivelled and clearly passed to the great unknown.

The remainder that have roots and are still healthy have not yet sprouted new leaf growth even though roots have been growing for weeks.

This confused me until i remebered one tricky little trait with Prunus Mume. Prunus Mume have a habit of developing flower buds over leaf buds. And quite often the leaf buds that develop are at the base of the branch or the tip. so when i took the cuttings i am assuming there werent any leaf buds on the cuttings as the Mume had been trimmed when i had gotten it and it flowered prufusely.

The cuttings that are still healthy i am leaving and hoping that if the root system gets strong enough it may send up a new shoot.

To combat this issue and to build ramification on the remainder of the tree, i have started the "let new growth grow to 7 leaves then cut it back to two leaves" method. this helps promote the development of leaf buds over flower buds. So next year i will hopefully have more success with my cuttings.

After speaking with Ray Nesci i took some cuttings of new growth as it hardened off. I stripped the leaves apart from the top two and cut those in half. I dipped the opposite end in hormone gel, stuck one in a pot with a half cut coke bottle over it, and the others in a pot with a plastic bad over it. So far only one loss. no new growth yet but the cuttings are still green and healthy and have been this way for weeks so fingers crossed!!