large crabapple cutting

[GrimLore]

I am not nearly as confident that you actually have roots yet. If you do that is unusual but great! "hardwood" cuttings are done a bit different then what I see you have experienced. Normally the branch is dormant, potted, left through its normal dormancy, and in Spring when it wakes up starts the rooting process. I have a bad feeling that what you may be seeing is the cuttings trying to reproduce as they have been chopped live and tossed in a pot I told you in an earlier post it is worth a shot anyways and it honestly is as I have had a few trees that never followed the rules as we know them. I would continue to baby them as far as partial sun and keeping them damp but I would not fertilize until I was positive there was some root and I would only use 50 percent of the recommended.

Grimmy

 

[catfish chapstick]

I am not nearly as confident that you actually have roots yet. If you do that is unusual but great! "hardwood" cuttings are done a bit different then what I see you have experienced. Normally the branch is dormant, potted, left through its normal dormancy, and in Spring when it wakes up starts the rooting process. I have a bad feeling that what you may be seeing is the cuttings trying to reproduce as they have been chopped live and tossed in a pot I told you in an earlier post it is worth a shot anyways and it honestly is as I have had a few trees that never followed the rules as we know them. I would continue to baby them as far as partial sun and keeping them damp but I would not fertilize until I was positive there was some root and I would only use 50 percent of the recommended.

Grimmy

yes I was thinking the same. thanks

 

[leatherback]

I took hardwood cuttings, about the same diameter, 2 years ago in fall. They leaved out. Had leaves all the way through summer. In September (!) they started to sputter. Leaves dropped and the stumps dried out. So I lifted them last fall, not a single root.

So.. Enjoy, and treat as if you are having success. But keep in mind.. Even after months they may be living of reserves.

I have much better luck with 1 an 2 year old material as cuttings. When I burry these by 60% in mid-winter, almost all of them take

 

[catfish chapstick]

I took hardwood cuttings, about the same diameter, 2 years ago in fall. They leaved out. Had leaves all the way through summer. In September (!) they started to sputter. Leaves dropped and the stumps dried out. So I lifted them last fall, not a single root.

So.. Enjoy, and treat as if you are having success. But keep in mind.. Even after months they may be living of reserves.

I have much better luck with 1 an 2 year old material as cuttings. When I burry these by 60% in mid-winter, almost all of them take

Thank you for sharing your experience.

yes, that is what I am afraid of. so far this is what it looks like. should I lift it and examine if there are any roots? the other cuttings I took were two year I think.
It really does look like it will pull through but looks can be deceiving.

 

[GrimLore]

I would not disturb it in any fashion until early Spring - it "could" put out roots but I assure it has not yet and the less handled the better chance you have.

Grimmy

 

[barrosinc]

rule number one of cuttings... DO NOT MOVE THEM.

 

[Eric Group]

Leave it where it is until next year.

I took a comparably sized cutting from a Trident last year... It leafed out, like yours has- and just sat there all year. Got tossed out of it's pot this winter by a squirrel- NO ROOTS. They were not torn off, or removed by the varmint... Just never grew any... It had calloused over pretty heavy but didn't grow root one.

I scraped off some of the callous to get to green, dabbed root hormone on it again and replanted it in fresh perlite. It has leafed out again! We will see....

Good luck with yours!

 

[leatherback]

rule number one of cuttings... DO NOT MOVE THEM.

exactly.
You will know for certain whether there are roots by the end of next summer. Or.. If you start to get 5 inch extension on the branches. That is a pretty certain sign of roots.

 

[milehigh_7]

Thanks for sharing that. I had read "Propagation Medium: Unlike heavier, more compact sand media, lightweight pumice media gently releases the roots when cuttings are removed." On http://aboutpumice.com/pumice-uses.html

I don't have any sand, just a bag of Akadama and a box of pumice. I also don't have rooting hormone. is it going to fail without those things? I have kept it well watered. I could get the rooting hormone if the garden store doen the street carries it but it's a hydroponics store mostly so Im not sure if they carry it.

LOL a hydro store will most definitely carry rooting hormone cloning is... important to some. Get dip n grow if you can find it or Hormex powders. The reason is that you can adjust the strength of the hormone to match the species. The hydro store may only have clonex which is pretty good as well.

 

[drew33998]

I have had better success with air layering crabs than rooting them. I had only about a 50% success with striking cuttings of a crab of unknown ID. I air layered one last spring after leaves hardened of and it put out a huge mass of roots in 4-6 weeks. If the leaves look to be drooping I would water it well and place in a white trash bag for humidity. Spray a little water in the trash bag and close it up. Setting it in the shade. I did this last year for the first time and had great results.

 

[catfish chapstick]

It has been three months. I decided to take a look and see what was going below the soils surface. Apple trees are tough as nails.

at the very least, so far so good.

 

[Eric Group]

It has been three months. I decided to take a look and see what was going below the soils surface. Apple trees are tough as nails.

at the very least, so far so good.

View attachment 75682

Nice! That is not a so far so good, that is a NEW TREE. Fully developed root system- great job!

I had a comparably sized JM take this year as well... Maybe it is the weather or something in the air? LOL

 

[catfish chapstick]

Nice! That is not a so far so good, that is a NEW TREE. Fully developed root system- great job!

I had a comparably sized JM take this year as well... Maybe it is the weather or something in the air? LOL

Nice! I'd like to try with other species. So far I have rooted (from large cuttings) crabapple and willow.

I'm not really going to consider it a success until it starts putting on growth next spring although I am fairly confident that it will.

 

[GrimLore]

It has been three months. I decided to take a look and see what was going below the soils surface. Apple trees are tough as nails.
at the very least, so far so good.

Very Good! Happy for the update being a nice one That looks plenty robust enough to Winter ok by the time it returns.

Grimmy

 

[Eric Group]

Nice! I'd like to try with other species. So far I have rooted (from large cuttings) crabapple and willow.

I'm not really going to consider it a success until it starts putting on growth next spring although I am fairly confident that it will.

Oh yeah, you should be good to go! Obviously, your winters are a lot worse than mine, so I don't know what kind of protection a Crabapple would need, but this one should be nice and hardened off by the time winter comes!

 

[hinmo24t]

hope this cutting worked out, did you repot it after seeing the roots?

fwiw, i cut my purple crabapple back by 2/3 over the weekend, and prepared what i cut off as a cutting. its about .5" thick
and 8" long, really hoping to have two nice purple crabs going by mid summer...