Can you clone juniper from branch breaks?

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Remember, if you buy a tree from someplace warm, say Brussel's which is near Memphis, if you live somewhere cold, like Fargo, Minnesota or north of Chicago, you will not be able to just plop your purchase outside, in the middle of January. The tree will need a month of steadily decreasing night temperatures to adapt.

In fact at this point in winter I'd be tempted to just keep it indoors until safe to put outside in spring. The complexity of acclimating stock to cold is why I don't purchase trees after September. Buying trees or rather taking delivery only April thru August.

Procumbens juniper, if given all of the autumn to adapt, are perfectly hardy through zone 5, meaning most of the USA they can be left outside all winter.

But things are pretty green in Memphis and southward, not a good time of year to move trees to a Michigan or northern Illinois or Minnesota back yard.

Curiously procumbens in warm climates, like Florida and southern California, does reasonably well, with minimal winter chill. This is the reason it is often used for "box store bonsai" which often ends up indoors for long periods. It also stays green for months after it has died. This making time of death difficult to detect, and by extension, cause of death this gets obscured. Less blow back to originators.

Thanks for the advice Professor. I've mistyped/spoken It's actually not outdoors it's in my attached garage. I have a digital thermometer installed and it's currently 41.5 degrees. The correctly named Brussel's shipped from Mississippi and my hardiness noob sensors went off and I felt what you so logicly explained. My current worry is light, but I do have a cheap full spectrum I can install. I've been watching the temps in the garage & it can get below 25F at times. Is this sufficient or should I still bring it indoors?

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Anything that will tie it in position securely. It's essentially the same as an approach graft, but since the branch is already connected to the rest of the tree's resources still you'll have a better chance of success.
But what @leatherback said is true, the wood is already separated, so you'll forever have only the thin layers on top holding the branch to the tree. It will be a week point for sure.

None other!

Yeah, we knew him before he was famous. Then it all went to his head.

Thank Shady. I have some tape and ties, but I've seen super glue and other head scratching suggestions when googling.

 

[ShadyStump]

Thank Shady. I have some tape and ties, but I've seen super glue and other head scratching suggestions when googling.

I can see the reasoning there - glue to wood itself in place - but I'm not sure I trust it.

If @leatherback or @Leo in N E Illinois have any more suggestions I'd go with that. My experience on this topic is mostly with mending garden vegetables; damaged peppers and tomatoes and the like.

 

[leatherback]

Yeah, we knew him before he was famous. Then it all went to his head.

whaaaaaat!
It went to my head WAAAAAY before!

 

[leatherback]

I can see the reasoning there - glue to wood itself in place - but I'm not sure I trust it.

If @leatherback or @Leo in N E Illinois have any more suggestions I'd go with that. My experience on this topic is mostly with mending garden vegetables; damaged peppers and tomatoes and the like.

Well.. Gluing it in place would only be so that the branch can heal, so it *could* work. But.. Bracing it with a wire, wrapping with raffia.. All options. For a young tree / young branch I would not bother. Most likely it is not a critical branch for the long-term design [?]

 

[jandslegate]

I had a similar situation with a juniper back in September. The main difference was that my break wasn't at the shoulder. I put some cut paste around the wound, wrapped it in rafia then used the wire that was already there to keep it in place. Using glue is valid and I almost went that way but I didn't have any on hand in the moment. So I used what I had. I will say the branch in question seems to be fine and I've had no signs of foliar death etc.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Thanks for the advice Professor. I've mistyped/spoken It's actually not outdoors it's in my attached garage. I have a digital thermometer installed and it's currently 41.5 degrees. The correctly named Brussel's shipped from Mississippi and my hardiness noob sensors went off and I felt what you so logicly explained. My current worry is light, but I do have a cheap full spectrum I can install. I've been watching the temps in the garage & it can get below 25F at times. Is this sufficient or should I still bring it indoors?

Ideal temps for winter, for stock that has not been "acclimated" to below freezing weather is 33F to 40F (0 C to +4 C), at these temperatures, metabolism of conifers & deciduous & broadleaf evergreens, all trees really, metabolism is low enough that no light is required. At below 40 F, most trees are functionally dormant.

Over 40 F, light must be provided. Note: Larch are an exception, they need it colder to be kept dormant, below 38F, maybe even colder.

Generally, trees of winter hardy species that have not been given time to acclimate, can be killed by cold extremes they would normally survive. Also, a short warm spell in the middle of winter can undo winter hardiness. Milwaukee Bonsai Society has a January winter silhouette show, any tree like beech, hornbeam, even the pines, displayed in the warm greenhouse for 60 hours, that's Fri, Sat, & Sun, must be protected from cold below about +29F (-1 or-2 C) for the rest of the winter. The club tries to remember to warn all that exhibitors that the warmth of the greenhouses will undo the winter hardiness adaptations of their trees.

Similarly, from when I had the blueberry farm, in 2012, a 3 or 4 day warm spell of 60F (16 C) followed by 0 F (-18C) a couple days later killed virtually all the flower buds, for a 90% crop loss that year. Flower buds for blueberries are normally winter hardy thru -18F or hardy thru -20 C. But just a couple days of warmth can undo winter hardiness. Fortunately vegetative buds were less sensitive, but there was die back of the bushes too some extent too.

Is +25 F too cold for a Memphis tree in shipped to Michigan in January? I don't know for certain. And would not risk it if the tree cost me more than $20. Most trees will tolerate +29F even without any cold adaptation. I would find a way to finish the winter with the tree either above freezing, 33F to 40F, or move it in with your tropicals under lights and just let it grow.

This is the reason I do not purchase winter hardy trees in the middle of winter from places WARMER than my climate. I can buy trees from North Dakota, because they will be dormant and cold adapted, when they arrive in January. I can't buy from Brussel's (Memphis, hence warmer) unless I have room in the light set up.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Ideal temps for winter, for stock that has not been "acclimated" to below freezing weather is 33F to 40F (0 C to +4 C), at these temperatures, metabolism of conifers & deciduous & broadleaf evergreens, all trees really, metabolism is low enough that no light is required. At below 40 F, most trees are functionally dormant.

Over 40 F, light must be provided. Note: Larch are an exception, they need it colder to be kept dormant, below 38F, maybe even colder.

Generally, trees of winter hardy species that have not been given time to acclimate, can be killed by cold extremes they would normally survive. Also, a short warm spell in the middle of winter can undo winter hardiness. Milwaukee Bonsai Society has a January winter silhouette show, any tree like beech, hornbeam, even the pines, displayed in the warm greenhouse for 60 hours, that's Fri, Sat, & Sun, must be protected from cold below about +29F (-1 or-2 C) for the rest of the winter. The club tries to remember to warn all that exhibitors that the warmth of the greenhouses will undo the winter hardiness adaptations of their trees.

Similarly, from when I had the blueberry farm, in 2012, a 3 or 4 day warm spell of 60F (16 C) followed by 0 F (-18C) a couple days later killed virtually all the flower buds, for a 90% crop loss that year. Flower buds for blueberries are normally winter hardy thru -18F or hardy thru -20 C. But just a couple days of warmth can undo winter hardiness. Fortunately vegetative buds were less sensitive, but there was die back of the bushes too some extent too.

Is +25 F too cold for a Memphis tree in shipped to Michigan in January? I don't know for certain. And would not risk it if the tree cost me more than $20. Most trees will tolerate +29F even without any cold adaptation. I would find a way to finish the winter with the tree either above freezing, 33F to 40F, or move it in with your tropicals under lights and just let it grow.

This is the reason I do not purchase winter hardy trees in the middle of winter from places WARMER than my climate. I can buy trees from North Dakota, because they will be dormant and cold adapted, when they arrive in January. I can't buy from Brussel's (Memphis, hence warmer) unless I have room in the light set up.

Thank you Sir. You're a wealth of information and everyone becomes more knowledgeable when they read your posts. I appreciate you taking the time to show me the error of my ways. I'll chalk this purchase up to noobness and lesson learned. Ten months in to this and I have so many more mistakes to make might as well get them out of the way.





P.S. if we could keep this knowledge of me having a Juniper in my Tropical room a secret I'd appreciate it. I could get thrown out of Michigan if this gets around.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

From @leatherback himself :

I ended up using this vid from Leatherback, and made three cuttings (starting to watch my tree count) Got the "secret ingredient" the other day & I may have done it correctly. Fingers crossed and I didn't take any pictures.