Prunus by root cuttings

Daluke · Post by **Daluke** » June 26th, 2019, 6:07 pm

Hey guys,

Has anyone had any luck propagating prunus by root cutting? I haven’t been able to propagate by normal cutting and it’s killing me. Good specimens are hard to come by.

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shibui · Post by **shibui** » June 26th, 2019, 6:16 pm

Some plums grow happily from root cuttings but I'm not sure about the other species.
Which prunus are you trying?

melbrackstone · Post by **melbrackstone** » June 26th, 2019, 6:32 pm

There's a root cutting post somewhere here... viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6055&hilit=root+cut ... d611a2c5f1

might help..?

Daluke · Post by **Daluke** » June 26th, 2019, 6:39 pm

It’s from a grafted double flowering apricot.

No idea what the rootstock was.

Prunus noclue

robb63 · Post by **robb63** » June 26th, 2019, 7:09 pm

[quote]Prunus noclue

I have a couple of those.

shibui · Post by **shibui** » June 26th, 2019, 8:29 pm

It’s from a grafted double flowering apricot.

No idea what the rootstock was.

Prunus noclue

So just to be clear, you are trying to grow the rootstock, not the flowering apricot? Maybe the apricot is no more and the stock is now growing?

Most commercial prunus would probably be grafted onto myrobolan plums rootstock I think, in which case it should be easy to grow from root cuttings. I've always found it quite easy to strike as hardwood cuttings too. Try pencil thick cuttings taken now. They can be tied in bundles and buried almost to the top in damp soil for the winter. Lift in spring and most should have good callus at the base and can be put into pots or straight into the ground. Stored in plastic bag in the fridge crisper over winter is another alternative instead of burying. Also as normal cuttings in propagating mix and with a cover for humidity should be OK. The key seems to be to prevent the dormant cuttings from dehydrating over winter until they have new roots.

Daluke · Post by **Daluke** » June 27th, 2019, 8:43 am

The rootstock is unknown. It seemed to be doing pretty well though whatever the type.

The grafted addition is flowering apricot which has lots of twigs. I’ve had it for a season and it seems to be powering.

I was hoping on separating some of the apricot twigs and grafting them to some other prunus type rootstock to get more mume.

The mume available at nurseries is quite ugly and pricey. No bonsai potential. I figured I’d invest in one for donor / experiment purposes.

How do you guys get your hands on mume??

TimS · Post by **TimS** » June 27th, 2019, 10:09 am

My young Prunus mume and ume I found at a local bonsai nursery, though they were not out on the benches, they were in the prop area out the back. I asked about finding flowering cherry, which they didn’t have, but they disappeared out the back and returned with a rooted cutting of each which I grabbed (I was more excited about the apricot, but the plum is nice too).

Cuttings from my Ume have been successful, but mume not so much. I will try again this year with both.

I see stumps of nectarine fairly commonly, even plum stumps occasionally, but mume is quite uncommon. Normal plant nurseries occasionally have the grafted weeping mume, and I thought about if something could be done with one of those. They are pretty rare to see as well though.

Daluke · Post by **Daluke** » June 27th, 2019, 1:14 pm

Which nursery?

Luke308 · Post by **Luke308** » June 27th, 2019, 1:44 pm

I have a flowering plum root cutting I got from Moongate Bonsai which is apparently from 90 year old prunus.

I re-potted it and plan on doing some carving/styling this year. It is massive. Maybe see if they have any more? Shrua was very helpful.

TimS · Post by **TimS** » June 27th, 2019, 7:35 pm

Daluke wrote: ↑June 27th, 2019, 1:14 pmWhich nursery?

It was Bonsai Art nursery about 2 years ago. Literally just like 1 year old rooted cuttings though.

treeman · Post by **treeman** » June 28th, 2019, 5:38 pm

Flowering apricots are usually grafted onto either peach or Prunus cerasifera. Neither will grow from root cuttings. And just as well too!

Daluke · Post by **Daluke** » June 28th, 2019, 5:43 pm

treeman wrote:Flowering apricots are usually grafted onto either peach or Prunus cerasifera. Neither will grow from root cuttings. And just as well too!

Ugly?

Do peach and cerasifera propagate from root cutting easily??

It seems that all the understock stuff available is too wide for nice grafts.

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treeman · Post by **treeman** » June 29th, 2019, 2:08 pm

Daluke wrote: ↑June 28th, 2019, 5:43 pm

Do peach and cerasifera propagate from root cutting easily??

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Come now Daluke, you are not reading my reply properly!

Daluke · Post by **Daluke** » June 29th, 2019, 2:14 pm

treeman wrote:
Daluke wrote: ↑June 28th, 2019, 5:43 pm

Do peach and cerasifera propagate from root cutting easily??

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Come now Daluke, you are not reading my reply properly!

Whoops.

No wonder then that they are so pricey.

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