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ReptileAddiction
- Greener Thumb
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- Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:52 am
- Location: Southern California
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ReptileAddiction
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 866
- Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:52 am
- Location: Southern California
Seeing as I am an incredibly impatient person when it comes to cuttings today I gently dug one up with a pen and found 2 small roots. WAHOO!!! But I also noticed some molt on the surface of the soil. It is because of the constant 100% humidity. I took them out of the bags to try to let the surface of the soil dry out to kill it. What do you guys think? Is their any other ways to get rid of it?
Thanks much for this
ElizabethB wrote:Like you do any hardwood cutting. 6" - 8" cuttings the diameter of a pencil. angled cut on the bottom straight cut on top. No leaves. All purpose potting soil. I use 3/4 - 1 gallon nursery pots filled to within an inch of the top. The jury is out on root hormone. I have used it and not used with no discernable difference. Leave only 3"- 4" of the cutting out of the soil. The big thing is to keep the soil evenly moist at all times. I saturate my soil first and let it drain before planting. Even in the winter cuttings generally need daily watering. No fertilizer. No need to worry about light until your cutting starts producing leaves.
Rooting the cutting should be no problem. I have started lots of hard wood cuttings with very good results including a fig cutting I took from Mom's tree last spring. I usually avoid trying to start cuttings from plants like citrus and fruit trees that are grafted. Your cuttings will start no problem I just don't know how not having the grafted root stock will affect the tree in the long run. Maybe some of the other forum members can chime in. I have started grafted roses from cuttings. SOO proud of myself when they bloomed - alas the plants just did not live more than a few years. The parent plants were still going strong when my starts died/quit blooming. I do recommend keeping your citrus trees in pots until they are 2 or 3 years old and 3' - 4' tall. Even in south Louisiana very young citrus/fruit trees are sensitive to even a little bit of cold. I pottedd my fig cutting up to an 8" pot after the leaves appeared and will pot it up to a 10" in the spring. I will probably need to pot it up again before winter. I have not yet added any fertilizer. If it tries to fruit I will pop off the fruit. I planted a satsuma in March. It had about 12 baby fruit. I popped them off. It has not been fertilized but will do so probably late February early March. I will let fruit develop this year. The first year in the ground it needs to establish roots and not waste energy pushing foliage or fruit.
Interested in seeing how your experiment works ie not grafted.
The main thing about taking cuttings, especially plants that go dormant, you want to get the cutting just before it goes into an active growth phase and make sure the tree was well fed.
I root multiple cuttings in a pot. I prefer bulb pans for rooting. They have a good surface area, straight sides and lots of holes in the bottom.
I want to have cuttings 1/4-1/2 inch thick. I take more bark of the bottom of the cutting to increase rooting surface. I use powdered rooting hormone but some people say dip 'n grow works best on harder wood. I root everything pretty much in perlite. Most citrus will strike well. It will be all or nothing. Nothing, if you get it at the wrong time. The root mass is pretty well developed by transplant time and for me it only takes a couple of months. I have made some cuttings of my Meyer lemon and I think all of them took.
I root multiple cuttings in a pot. I prefer bulb pans for rooting. They have a good surface area, straight sides and lots of holes in the bottom.
I want to have cuttings 1/4-1/2 inch thick. I take more bark of the bottom of the cutting to increase rooting surface. I use powdered rooting hormone but some people say dip 'n grow works best on harder wood. I root everything pretty much in perlite. Most citrus will strike well. It will be all or nothing. Nothing, if you get it at the wrong time. The root mass is pretty well developed by transplant time and for me it only takes a couple of months. I have made some cuttings of my Meyer lemon and I think all of them took.
Grafting is an art and requires a lot of practice to develop the skill. I know what I have to do to graft but I have a weak wrist so I have a hard time making a cut the doesn't have waves in it. I did get a grafting tool to make it easier that makes the cuts you just have to remember to turn it upside down to make the corresponding match. The tool eliminates the problem of getting the edges to match but you still have to eyeball it to find branches approximately the same size.
Cleft grafts are easier than slip grafts because the cleft helps to hold it in place tightly when you are taping it.
It is also easier to cut the scion with a sharp knife on a cutting board to get a straighter cut.
You still want to collect scions when they are just beginning to flush and it helps if you spend a lot of time practicing first. Whittling is a good hobby to help practice matching grafts and making straight cuts.
Cuttings will allow you to get citrus sooner and it will be exactly like the mother plant. But, there is another reason for grafting. Trestiza virus is a devastating disease of citrus and resistant root stock keeps the citrus alive and productive longer. True dwarf trees are shorter generally 8-15 ft. Some "dwarfs" can be up to 30 ft tall at maturity planted in the ground if only the rootstock is dwarfed but the graft is a standard citrus. I just keep mine in pots. Pots keep will keep citrus trees smaller even if they are not true dwarfs.
Cleft grafts are easier than slip grafts because the cleft helps to hold it in place tightly when you are taping it.
It is also easier to cut the scion with a sharp knife on a cutting board to get a straighter cut.
You still want to collect scions when they are just beginning to flush and it helps if you spend a lot of time practicing first. Whittling is a good hobby to help practice matching grafts and making straight cuts.
Cuttings will allow you to get citrus sooner and it will be exactly like the mother plant. But, there is another reason for grafting. Trestiza virus is a devastating disease of citrus and resistant root stock keeps the citrus alive and productive longer. True dwarf trees are shorter generally 8-15 ft. Some "dwarfs" can be up to 30 ft tall at maturity planted in the ground if only the rootstock is dwarfed but the graft is a standard citrus. I just keep mine in pots. Pots keep will keep citrus trees smaller even if they are not true dwarfs.
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applestar
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Found this -- making a note here for future reference though we may want a separate thread for citrus grafting later 
Budding and Grafting Citrus and Avocados in the Home Garden
https://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/8001.pdf
Budding and Grafting Citrus and Avocados in the Home Garden
https://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/8001.pdf
BUDDING
Budding is the standard method used to propagate citrus. Aside from being the eas- iest method, it allows a large number of plants to be propagated from a small amount of scion wood and is suitable for trees, rootstocks, or branches from 1â„4 to 1 inch (0.6 to 2.5 cm) in diameter.
Budwood should be taken only from high-producing, disease-free trees (see sidebar). The best citrus budwood is located just below the most recent flush of new growth; the best avocado budwood is located near the terminal end of shoots that have fully matured, leathery leaves.
If you live in Florida or Hawaii, tristeza is a problem and most citrus needs to be grafted onto resistant rootstock or the plant will not live for very many years. Cutttings and seeds will grow but once the disease hits, the bark will peel off and the plant dies.
In Hawaii virtually all citrus have tristeza, so nearly all citrus is grafted. Resistant rootstock is not immune but slows the progression so a tree can last 20-25 years instead of an average of 5 ungrafted. The second stage of the disease usually produces bumper crops of fruit as the tree tries to reproduce itself before it dies. When the bark starts peeling off the main trunk, you have to cut the tree down before it falls down. Meyer lemons and calamondin appear not to be bothered much by tristeza and heenaran is the most common rootstock.
In Hawaii virtually all citrus have tristeza, so nearly all citrus is grafted. Resistant rootstock is not immune but slows the progression so a tree can last 20-25 years instead of an average of 5 ungrafted. The second stage of the disease usually produces bumper crops of fruit as the tree tries to reproduce itself before it dies. When the bark starts peeling off the main trunk, you have to cut the tree down before it falls down. Meyer lemons and calamondin appear not to be bothered much by tristeza and heenaran is the most common rootstock.
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fruitmentor
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- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:04 pm
Growing citrus from cuttings is a challenging plant propagation. I got it to work with a good success rate this year. I wrote an article and made a video that show how to do it. Please see below.
Best regards,
Dan Willey
Step-by-step guide:
Rooting Citrus Cuttings
Video:
Rooting Citrus Cuttings (YouTube)
Best regards,
Dan Willey
Step-by-step guide:
Rooting Citrus Cuttings
Video:
Rooting Citrus Cuttings (YouTube)