Propagation of plants

Where propagation really shines is in plant production. Just about anything you can find in a nursery and many fruits and vegetables in a grocery store can be propagated. Just a few from the produce shelves that can have successfully propagated include potatoes, sweet potatoes (in a long enough growing season), Jerusalem artichokes, horseradish, Haas avocados, limes, wild persimmons, wild cherries, and tangerines. Fruits such as apples, plums, pears, cherries, apricots and peaches do not propagate very successfully from seed since these are most often grown on rootstock that is different from the fruit that is actually produced. Think of the seeds from these fruits in the same manner as seeds saved from hybrid vegetables. The growing results are similar for a variety of reasons. Grapes, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and blackberries are so easy to propagate that everyone should start with these.

One method of propagating is called layering. This is mostly used for vines. Grapes, gooseberries, and scuppernongs are the vines I have successfully worked with. Take the vine that has current year’s growth and simply burry a 6 inch section of it about a foot or so from the end. Wait about two months and then cut the vine where it is buried on the parent side of the dirt. Dig up the vine and replant in its own spot. It helps the process along to scrape, cut, or abrade the outer layer of the vine before burying. Make 3 – 3 or 4 inch long cuts just through the outer layer. It is also helpful to place a brick on the vine to hold it down. One can easily get 10 vines from each parent plant. Done every 2 month over a normal growing season, a grower could easily layer hundreds of vines per year from one parent.

Layering also has a slight twist used on Blueberries. Take a small muslin bag of peat or compost and wrap it around the branch where you have scraped down to the cambium layer as you would to layer a vine. Secure the bag so it will stay in place for 6 to 8 weeks. Keep the bag wet, and within 6 to 8 weeks, the blueberry branch will have new roots and will be ready to cut from the parent plant.

By taking cuttings from certain trees, you can successfully propagate many different types of trees found in your garden center. One can use this method only when some other method does not work well. It is a little more demanding method to get right. Some trees/bushes are more successful with propagation through cuttings at different times of the year and some do better with green, soft wood while some do better with brown, mature wood. Basically, take a 6 inch or so cutting near the tip of the branch. Strip the greenery from the 3 inches closest to the place of your cut. Dip the cut end in a rooting hormone available at most growing centers, and stick the cutting in a growing medium. Some have successfully used sand mixed with potting soil. In several months, you should have roots on the new young plant. Keep watered well and in a warm, sunny location, preferably a cold frame or greenhouse in the winter until the spring and then transplant to the permanent location.

Apples, pears, Asian pears, plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches are easily and cheaply propagated through grafting. To graft a fruit tree, taking cuttings from parent trees (scion wood) in the spring before the fruit trees break dormancy and start budding (that would be now !!!). The parent tree will determine the type of fruit bore on the new tree. Order your rootstock to arrive about the same time. The rootstock determines the size of the mature tree and the resistance of the tree to disease, pests and weather (wet and cold tolerance). There is rootstock that is specialized for each type of fruit. Do your research or ask the nursery that is selling you the rootstock. If the scion wood is cut before the rootstock arrives, wrap them in a wet towel, sawdust, or sand and store them in the refrigerator until ready. Cut the rootstock and scion so that the diameter of the two is near the same size. The cut to join the two pieces is hard to describe, but the cuts are made to each piece less than a half inch long along the length of the wood. The pieces are fitted together like fingers meshed together. There is a tool that makes a puzzle piece cut in each end that joins the two pieces. The tool costs about $60 and I don’t think the blades can be sharpened. I use a simple knife to make the cuts. The cuts fit together so that the joint is secure and then the graft is taped with a special tape that doesn’t damage the tree. When the two pieces are joined, the cambium layers (the slick layer just under the outer bark) must be touching. Pot the new tree and set out in its permanent location next spring. If the graft does not take, but the rootstock lives, a new graft can be tried the following spring. Also, be sure the scion wood has at least 4 buds and is joined so that it is pointed in the same direction as is grew on the tree. It is easier than you think to graft them upside down. The $15 to $20 tree can now be propagated onto $2 rootstock to produce new trees. One word of warning, some recently developed fruit cultivars are protected through the Patent and Trademark Office (I am not sure of the proper term) and should not be propagated without permission.

I won’t mention bamboo, raspberries and blackberries other than to say it is hard to keep them in the areas where intended. New shoots can be dug up and transplanted to a new area. A border of sheet metal or metal roofing scraps can be buried 12 – 18 inches below ground level has been successful in keeping bamboo from becoming a nuisance.

Propagation of vegetables from the produce section is great fun to do with the kids. Try anything and everything that you or your kids think might be fun. Don’t worry if you waste a few dollars.

It is possible to use slips from potatoes bought from the store. Some potatoes are sprayed with a chemical to prevent or delay them from budding, but usually a few manage to bud anyway. One will always have better luck with seed potato slips.

If one takes sweet potatoes and slits them lengthwise in half and then lay them in a pan of water covered with some potting soil do this about January. The slips send up vines that I plant as soon as the weather permits.

Wild cherries, wild persimmons, horseradish, and Jerusalem artichokes have been grown successfully by planting the entire fruit or root and waiting for the produce.

Possibly the most unique thing tried is the California Haas avocado. It is successful about half the time. Several times,it doesn't work, and it was damaging the new plant and it didn’t live. Take the large seed out of the avocado. The California Haas has the hard, golf ball sized seed in the middle, not the softer and larger seed in the Florida avocado. Soak the seeds for about two weeks and let them start to split. Once this process starts, take three toothpicks and insert them in the side of the seeds just enough to support the weight of the seed just above the midsection with the pointy end pointed down. The idea is to space the toothpicks in such a manner as to keep ½ to 2/3rds of the seed submerged in a cup of water. Now wait, and wait some more. After perhaps three months, roots should come out the bottom, followed by a single stem out the top. At this point, you can plant into a pot. I just started playing around with avocados last year and have not had any produce from my small trees.

Your USDA climate zone will determine what you can leave outside year round and what you have to bring in to a greenhouse or garage. I am in zone 7, so I protect the avocados and other tender plants in winter.