Propagating oak cuttings

[Thatguy85]

I couldn't find much useful information online about this, so I'll ask here...I took some oak cuttings from decidual oaks, semi hardwood cuttings. Because it is autumn, can I best put them inside under a growing light or keep them outside? I know the chances of rooting these are slim, but I want to give them the best chance possible as they are cuttings from rare oak trees around here. And I realise that spring is a better time for taking cuttings as well, so...just taking my chances here.

One reason I can think of for keeping them inside is to simulate spring and make them root (I'll provide a growing light for them). But perhaps keeping them outside as to provide them with a cold period might be better because the trees I took the cuttings from are preparing for winter anyway...so a bit like cold stratification with seeds.

Any advice is most welcome!

 

[penumbra]

Have you got a bit of experience with cuttings. I ask only because I do have some experience and I am pretty sure that rooting oaks is pretty futile. I am sure that some pros somewhere have done it but I have never personally met anyone who has rooted oak cuttings.

 

[Pitoon]

Collect and sow the acorns......

 

[Pixar]

Ideally take cutting in spring /summer
Use rooting hormone dip about 2 inches of the cutting . Plant in sandy and soil mix and water throughly .
Keep moist by spraying with water daily
Keep the plant entirely enclosed with a plastic bag to give it a humid enviroment . Place in a shady spot in the house
Wait 6-8 weeks ( see what happens )

 

[Potawatomi13]

Plant acorns now. Spring begets new baby trees instead of dead cuttings. Seedling Oak grows pretty quick first couple years while wasting time on dead cuttings only begets nothing.

 

[Topdec]

Only a newbie so no expert but instead of cuttings couldn't you air layer these trees

 

[Thatguy85]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah sowing acorns is better but these didnt have any. So I'm most likely doing something futile indeed. Anyway, I put them in a propagator (I have experience with cuttings, especially maple), and we'll see what happens. It's not eating bread, so...

 

[ShadyStump]

I was just in a similar conversation regarding some unique scrub oak trees near me.

I had no success with cuttings this year, nor have I ever heard of anyone having success with cuttings from oak.
I'll be trying root cuttings soon.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I just tried some cork oak cuttings this year. 100% failure rate. Had them in a propagation dome with a bunch of blaauw juniper cuttings. All the junipers survived, but none of the oaks

 

[Crazy Diamond]

"Oak stem cutting propagation protocols typically involve softwood and semi-hardwood stem cuttings collected from juvenile stock plants (with various stock plant manipulations), treated with indole butyric acid (IBA) basal dips. Early research demonstrated that it is very difficult to root cuttings of Oak, particularly if they are taken from mature trees; and that rooting ability declines quickly after about 3 years of age. However, some progress has been reported in the period 1985-2014 using cuttings from both stock hedges and young plants; with two papers (Spethmann 1986 and Spethmann and Harms 1993) claiming that this can be done commercially. There was a small and shortlived Forest Research programme at Alice Holt involving propagating oaks by cuttings taken from coppice shoots (Harmer and Baker 1991, Harmer 2010). Drew and Dirr (1989) used cuttings from 3 year old stock plants of Q. robur and showed that this species gave the second highest rooting percentages (30-67%) of the 10 Quercus species tested. The authors concluded that propagation by cuttings is feasible for some species, including Q. robur, but not for others"

https://www.futuretrees.org/wp-cont...egetative-Propagation-in-Oak-Worrell-2016.pdf

 

[Thatguy85]

Hmm yeah well, I'll let you know if any roots. It woud be a miracle I guess as the parent trees are like 100 years old lol. Oh well, makes things interesting I guess. Btw, the species I have cuttings from are quercus trojana, quercus fagaceae and quercus turneri.

 

[BrightsideB]

Maybe seedling cuttings would be a better try. Once you get the seedlings growing. That way you get good radial roots. And not that annoying tap.

 

[Cajunrider]

Same here. Zero success with oak cuttings. I have good success with digging up smaller oaks at the base of large oaks. Some of them look like sprouts from roots but I cannot be sure. They might well be from the zillions of acorns at the base.

 

[jandslegate]

Collect and sow the acorns......

And or just keep a tight eye on the ground in spring. Oak saplings are pretty easy to spot. I've collected over 30 saplings over the last couple years. I have no idea what I'll ever do with them but I've got them, lol. Just remember squirrels can be both a blessing and a curse, heh. But, I agree as well, oaks are much more easily propped from seed. Not saying it's impossible to get a cutting to strike but I never have. For every Forsythia or Ficus, ones that root even even if you just look at them, there are stubborn and near impossible ones.

 

[Thatguy85]

-UPDATE-
So it appears that one cutting struck, namely the quercus faginea. It appears that the buds are swelling (the cutting has buds on it). Very exciting regarding the odds, especially since the parent tree is more than a hundred years old.

The picture isn't very clear but I'll post better ones when time goes by.
I'll also post further updates in this thread.

 

[BrightsideB]

That’s a good sign! It doesn’t hurt to check for roots. I have Chinese elm seedling/sapling cuttings I pulled from the ground at a park. It’s good to put it in a separate pot once you have roots. You can get some good growth since it is going to be growing all through winter. I put mine outside once the frost is over with. They can take off.

 

[brentwood]

Only a newbie so no expert but instead of cuttings couldn't you air layer these trees

I wouldn't risk wounding an oak l open it up to infection that could kill the tree. Only supposed to trim when there are no insects, to keep them off fresh wounds. Oak wilt, maybe?

B

 

[PaulH]

In my experience, and I've tried numerous times, Oaks are very difficult if not impossible to grow from cuttings. Only live oaks seem to grow roots by air-layering.

 

[BrianBay9]

In my experience, and I've tried numerous times, Oaks are very difficult if not impossible to grow from cuttings. Only live oaks seem to grow roots by air-layering.

Heck, coast live oak can be collected like cuttings. Four inch trunks cut flat at collection with no feeder roots will usually throw out new roots and thrive. Ready to repot in two years. They are definitely an exception in the Quercus world.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Whe you cut the base of the plant is much more easy to get them to root, Cork oak and Holm oak also can be collected with almost no roots and with a good aftercare they root