The other thing you want to consider is if the seed will produce a "true" copy of the original tree. Many times even propogating with a cutting you are not going to get a true copy unless you graft.

I dis-agree with kim you get a true coppy of the original plant using a cutting or grafting. with most plants grown from seed you will find some genetic difference. sometimes the difference is very noticable. We use seed sources to find new cultivars of the species. As to your question. it depends on the time lapse after rooting starts. At about 6 months (& later)the root systems will be equal in ability to suport the plant. The tops (plant aabove the ground) MAY be different.

Thanks, Kim and George! I don't really mind whether the cuttings remain true to the parent plant, because I'm interested in native species, and if they decide to mutate, I'm sure they have some good reason.

But what you say, George, about the root systems being similar in structure and strength after six months of growth, is comforting to me. We've all seen trees and shrubs that were improperly planted and stay confined to a small area with a massive, tangled rootball that rocks and wiggles in its planting hole during windy weather. I hate to walk under a tree on a windy day if I don't think its roots have a good grip on the ground!

So you don't think a cutting's future stability will suffer because it missed the opportunity to grow a strong tap root like a seed would? (As long as it is transplanted properly, of course!)

I have always agreed with what George said about cuttings producing a clone of the plant, until that did not happen once for me. Now I am more careful to say USUALLY that is true. Al

I say this:

A seed has good natural selection odds which favor toward equal vigor among root systems. It also can add to a graft, a seedling I'm speaking of, the ability to produce a root-system capable of withstanding soils that the root-system of the cutting may not be able to tolerate. This relationship exists between a Chamaecyparis obtusa grafted to Thuja occidentalis which the occidentalis root system can tolerate any clay soil thrown at it creating an opportunity for "hardiness."

Grafted plants according to grafters (I'm referring to Bob Fincham of 'Coenosium Gardens') are no weaker or stronger than a seedling.

A rooted cutting is always the best option though as the vigor can never be "off." It's a guaranteed.

When plants are grafted you never know what you are getting for the rootstock unless you ask and that may not do any good either. The relationship of interspecies adapability means it's more economical to buy all of one and graft 10 10 species to it or whatever his plant needs are for that year. If grafting, the best choice is always species to species except in the case of "hardiness" improvement in some other way.

'Is a taproot more strong than a fibrous root system?'

I think there are certain known cases where a tap-root is the only means of preventing it from wabbling and snapping during high winds and one I know is Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, or Cupressus nootkatensis, Alaskan Cypress. This tree benefits from having a tap-root. I don't know however whether this tree on it's own roots (normally propagated vegetatively by cuttings) ..produces a tap-root. That's the problem with flowering pear's, they have shallow fibrous root systems would be my guess because they are the first to lay over during a storm.

I'm running out of paper I think.

Dax