It may be easier to do with rootmaker starter tray.

That way you wouldn't have to deal with roots tangling together. Just pluck them out and repot them.

I haven't tried it but I have seen Dr. Creech from Stephen F Austin State University use them to grow cuttings on Chinese bred Taxodium mucronatum hybrids. They sure produce better root system where you don't have to chop off roots before potting up.

What the root system of cypress looked like after growing in 5g rootmaker container. This tree got immediately killed by neighbor's dog after being planted.

Here is a link that might be useful: rootmaker propagation tray

I use a 50:50 mix of peat and perlite as well. I pot mine into communal pots (e.g. one pot full of 10 thuja cuttings) then place the pots inside a 40 gallon fish tank with a heat mat underneath. The top of the fish tank is sealed with clear plastic to trap in humidity. I have a fluorescent strip light above it (little to no light in my garage) on a timer that is set to the photoperiod outside. I usually have to mist the plants/soil's surface with fungicide laced water about once every other week. I don't have a greenhouse so this is done in my unheated garage. The heat mat is left on for about 2-3 months (until mid to late march). I leave the plants in their pots and slowly transition them to less humid conditions by slowly leaving more and more of the plastic off the top of the aquarium. By the end of the summer they are outside in a shaded area. I start off with decent size pots so the plants spend their first winter in these communal pots before re-potting the following spring.

I'm going to try a nearly identical method for grafting this winter. Hopefully I'll have some success!

Hi

Here my mist unit with a warm cable I root many rare
conifers.However some can be very slow to root.

^^^ Nice pic, it's like seeing part of you collection in minature. Green is go!

You can't beat rootmaker. The 36 cell tray is perfect and you don't need the flats. I use 90% perlite to 10% peat and my cut is the same as for grafting-scions. I'll remove the bark on one side a certain length proportional to the size of the cutting. A 6" cutting will likely have 1.5" - 2.0" shaved off and then I turn my knife and create the diagonal "fresh cut" at the bottom and then dip in Clonex - and then use a pencil to create a hole in the pre-moistened perlite mix and then add labels as needed. All the same principles as above - but I used my poly grafting chamber.

There's no question a mist-system is preferable, but I get during the winter in a poly-tent. Should I have a mist system in a hoophouse without heat, I'd do another round between mid-May and Mid-April watching carefully for frosts.

Dax

A friend helped me root these lawsoniana.
Mostly perlite with some potting soil, probably about the same ratio Dax mentions.

February (in the greenhouse)
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Lower sections of foliage stripped off, then dipped the entire thing in rooting hormone.
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On the bench. Intermittent mist.
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Roots forming in May (then moved to mix with less perlite)
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August

sluice.. please clarify: Lower sections of foliage stripped off, then dipped the entire thing in rooting hormone.

==>>> you mean just the stripped part????

ken

just the stripped part. with Cupressus type foliage (arbs, Chamaecyparis, Thujopsis, Juniperus, etc-) a person doesn't need to slice the bark off on one side (I do anyway still).

On his larger cuttings, as perspective, I'd skim the bark off 3" or a bit longer, then dip, then stick them.

Dax

Ken and Dax,
I was wondering the same thing when Betsy told me that. But yep, we dipped the whole thing, stem and foliage all.
I've seen Jerry do the same thing with scions on occasion, prior to grafting.
Nate

Whoa! Never heard of that.

Dax

Hi. Wish we could dig up the thread where a Mr. Dick Bush was explaining why cuttings should be taken in February/March. Anyone remember?? T.

Good call Tunilla!

Here you go.

Here is a link that might be useful: Barbara in California's rooting conifer thread

Hey guys, thank you so much for adding your comments on how you root your conifers. It sounds like we do things in much the same fashion.

I do strip the foliage off the bottom part of the plant that I stick also. I've used Clonex in the past too but have had much better success with Dip n' Grow. This year I'm trying a new product called Technaflora Rootech and I will use my Dip N' Grow also.

I think I will try to make my mix a little more porous with more perlite in my mix too. Thanks for that suggestion.

Blue Yew...what are you using for a medium for your cuttings? It almost looks like crushed granite, perlite and turface or pumice?

Also, what is everyone using for the rooting hormone? What have you had the most success with? I have been purchasing new solution every year as I fear the old rooting hormone is just that...too old. Do the rest of you do that as well?

Nate, I've never heard of dipping the entire cutting including the foliage in the rooting solution. I can't see how that would hurt but would take up a LOT of solution.

Oh one other thing that I found makes a HUGE difference in the success I have in rooting...I always use pond or rain water ONLY. I never use tap water. If I have to mist them I will use pond or rain water to mist them as well. However, I generally do not need to mist using the large totes and covering. It is very humid inside the tote and it keeps the plants nice and humid.

Good luck with your cuttings everyone. I will begin to stick some this weekend.

Thanks Mrs Lotus and Nate for refreshing my mind. I have taken quite a few cuttings,but I've lost nearly as many !
Mainly because I'm used to work with Cacti and other succulent plants, where tomorrow can always wait another few weeks. Wich usually means that cuttings left to callous (heal over the wound) often grow roots by themselves just lying there in a tray, waiting to be potted up . So, I've lost whole trays of conifercuttings in springtime just because I forgot about them and greenhouse temps. were soaring . I will try some more this year but I will keep them indoors...hot bottoms/cool tops!
PS Was Mr Bush the discoverer of Picea engelmannii 'Bush's Lace'???

Thanks Mrs Lotus and Nate for refreshing my mind. I have taken quite a few cuttings,but I've lost nearly as many !
Mainly because I'm used to work with Cacti and other succulent plants, where tomorrow can always wait another few weeks. Wich usually means that cuttings left to callous (heal over the wound) often grow roots by themselves just lying there in a tray, waiting to be potted up . So, I've lost whole trays of conifercuttings in springtime just because I forgot about them and greenhouse temps. were soaring . I will try some more this year but I will keep them indoors...hot bottoms/cool tops!
PS Was Mr Bush the discoverer of Picea engelmannii 'Bush's Lace'???

Tunilla,

I've rooted cactus cuttings also and they are an entirely different ball of wax. Cactus cuttings like very dry soil and will easily rot if placed in moist soil. Where conifer cuttings die instantly if they are too dry. Also, it seems the best time to take conifer cuttings for rooting is in late fall to January. I know that you can root conifers at all times of the year, but I have had the best success in Jan.

You do not want to let the bottoms heal over with conifer cuttings like you do cactus. You want to cut the bottom at an angle just before sticking so the plant will draw moisture up into the foliage or your cutting will dry up to a crisp.

I will try to get some close up photos and post them when I stick my cuttings. Good luck to you. I hope you have some great success.

I've never rooted any cuttings before so I'm planning to try in a few days. I had some seedlings this spring and re-potted them. The roots grew like crazy over the summer so I planted them all this fall. There were about ten Douglas Firs I looked after all summer that I planted in a row and I checked them the next week. Every one was chewed by mice. So now I'm going to try cuttings from various trees and also grow Ponderosa Pines from seed. Then I'll have trees that I rooted. Thank you for writing this thread.

I use a two sorts of grit with sand for drainage.

Aspen Acres - It is a terrible addiction of mine to root anything I can get my hands on. The more difficult it is the more exciting of a challenge it become for me. I love it. Most things are fairly easy to root and placing them in the totes as I indicated make the process almost fool proof. The only one thing to be very careful of is the amount of water placed in the soiless mix. Too much they all rot, to little and they dry up.

Blue yew - thank you for the information. I've never tried using a gritty mix for my cuttings. I have some in my greenhouse and might try it on a few just to see if it makes a difference. Can you continue using the gritty mix from one project to another by washing the gritty mix?

I got clippings today from nine different tree species. Some I think will root well and others I don't think will root but I tried anyways. They are fairly moist now but I'll keep an eye on them.

Ladylotus, the tote rooting methods sounds interesting!

When I graft in totes, I have to deal with fresh air exchanges. Does this also apply to rooting?

I'm speculating that it might not matter as much, since the cuttings aren't as active as an entire plant.

How do you work that?

Makes me excited to stick some cuttings....!

When would you guys and gals recommend taking Winter cuttings of Calocedrus decurrens?

Josh

Ive never washed the grit?mix I sometimes take out the
old grit/mix and put new in.

Nate, I do not have any problems at all with air exchange. On occasion I will peek in just to make sure things look as they should but I've never worried about adding fresh air. They do really well in totes.

Josh, I would take cuttings in January if you can and get them started.

Blue yew, thank you for the information. I did put some of my cuttings I stuck this weekend in a grit mix. I'm curious to see how they will do.

bumping this one also ... ken

Hi im interested in taking cuttings too

I've not had any luck with juniper cedar and yew cuttings at all they don't like to root out for me in dirt, so i bought a little jar of rootech clonning gel to retry so my setup is in my room i have dipped them in the rootech stuff and put them in a cup of water

now all i would like to know is how long do i have to wait for the roots to come out like how many months or weeks.

i have 2 yew shrubs and found a yew tree in the woods they are both females with the same looking cones i took one cutting from the tree type yew they been sitting in the water for about 3 days now i do have some perlite left and soil and sand so if i have to use any of these things i could for the cuttings but i don't know whats best for the cuttings

all i know is you dip it then put them in some water and wait for the roots and give them some light.

how many months did you have to wait for the roots to come out blue_yew.

Mike

Ive rooted stuff in a few months.

Mike,

I have had wonderful success placing all my cuttings in a large tote (in November or December) with 1/2 perlite and 1/2 peat moss, add pond or rain water, I use dip'n grow, place my cuttings in the soil less mix, put the cover on and place them on heat mats until it warms up. Then I place them in a shaded area still in the closed totes, peek in periodically to ensure they are still moist until the next October or November. I then pot them up and clean out the totes for the next round.

Some cuttings take an entire year to root while others root within a couple months. As long as the soil is moist they grow within the totes.

Good luck with your cuttings.

Here are a few of mine this year.

Why did my images not show up? They showed up when I previewed them.

I am using shutterfly and entering the location in the but it is not pulling my photos into the post. What changed?

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This post was edited by ladylotus on Mon, Apr 8, 13 at 21:08

I guess I can attach photos now from my computer without using Shutterfly. That is weird. Here is the other photo.

those look good. i guess if my stuff doesn't root out now or some time i'll try what you told me ladylotus and see how that goes

i have mine in perlite mixed into water right now and the cuttings haven't died yet i have 2 yew cuttings and 4 purple butterfly bush cuttings and 1 juniper cutting and 2 hydrangea cuttings for now.

mike...

due to the months it takes.. no one is doing this in water ...

what is the name of your stuff.. and does it really say to do it in water??? ... seems to me you would wash the stuff right off???

ken

I was wondering if you used clear or opaque totes...but your photo answers that question. How do you keep mold and rot from occuring with the cuttings sealed in the totes for so long?

Barbara

Barbara,

To keep the mold and rot from overtaking the cuttings I will open them periodically for a day and then mist them and close them back up again. If for some reason I see mold I spray them with a fungicide.

It is so easy and really nice to multiply a few plants. Good luck if you decide to root cuttings.