Hollywood Plum Cuttings. 12.9.14

Hollywood Plum Cuttings, Root Growth.  12.9.14

Hollywood Plum Saplings.  12.9.14

Today I dug up the remaining Hollywood Plum cuttings.  These were hardwood cuttings taken, I think, in April.  They were treated with rooting hormone then stuck into the soil in the tomato bed.  They did not receive any special treatment, other than what the tomatoes needed.

I did the same with Shiro plum.  None grew.  And with an ornamental quince - not sure if any grew, need to check again.

I potted them up.  I don't know what I will do with 6 new plum trees.  Two have bud grafts of Shiro.  It's a wait until Spring to see if those take.

Moving a Japanese maple. 10.18.14

Japanese Maple before moving.  10.18.14

This Japanese Maple started out as a volunteer seedling in the front border in Vancouver.  When I moved a big Camelia, this seedling came out with it.  I lost most of the roots.  I planted it in a container for a few months, then Ning planted it in his flower bed.

It grew too well there.  Now it's time to find a better place.  As it happens, a dogwood died, and the location needs a small to medium size tree.  If I am correct about the parentage of this maple, it should be in that range.  It seems to have a semi-weeping shape, which is nice.

I dug it out.  Nice root mass.  No winding or crossing roots.  That's a good aspect of growing it myself.  It is not subjected to tree nursery abuses.

I planted at the same depth as it was.  Since it's fall, this is a good time to plant.  It can grow some more roots before winter and again in early spring before the top starts growing again.

I read that it's not appropriate to top prune on transplanting, so I didn't.  I did remove a few wide ranging branches that were in the way.  Next Spring, it may need some corrective pruning due to closely crossing branches.  Mostly it's OK the way it is.

I like that this is a home - grown, own-root, seedling tree.  Not just because it's free, but because it feels more like it's my doing.

Japanese Maple Root Mass.  10.18.14

Transplanted Japanese Maple.  10.18.14

Transplanting Fruit Tree and Vine Starts. 10.18.14

Hollywood Plum after 1 season of growth. 10.18.14

 I replanted some of the fruit trees and a grape vine that I started in the raised beds. 

The Hollywood Plum was from cutting late winter this year, so one season of growth.  Pretty good.   Some of the others were eaten by deer.  I know they need protection but someone else left the gate open  :-).

This was one of the better cuttings.   It did not need any pruning.  I planted it in the location of the dead Satsuma plum.  That might not be wise, but my tree autopsy suggested the problem was, the tree was root bound in its original container, and I had failed to correct that. 

It's useless planting a little plum tree without protection, so I protected it.

The peach seedlings were volunteers.  I think they are from one of the genetic dwarf trees.  They have short internodes, so I think that is correct.  I dug them out, bare-rooted them - easy - and replanted in potting soil in containers.  Rationale - leaf curl disease is carried by rain during the winter.  If I keep them in the garage, I may be able to avoid that frustrating problem.    Depending on how they grow, I could either see what the peaches are like, or use them as a rootstock and graft scion from the other genetic dwarf peaches.  The plan - keep them out of the rain until dormant, then place them in a shed along with containerized fig trees, for the winter.  That may also have the advantage of delayed bloom.

Roots of Hollywood Plum, one season after starting cutting.  10.18.14

Transplanted Hollywood Plum.  10.18.14

Protected from rabbits, voles, deer.  10.18.14

 The grape was from cutting of Price grape, about 2 years old now.  The roots grew down through the screening underlying the raised bed, so I was unable to salvage most of the roots.  I think it will still be OK.  I pruned off the bottom node, which I had badly damaged in digging it out.   Now it's planted in the row with the other grapevines.  I like that I grew my own from a cutting, and Price is one of my favorites.

Peach seedlings and Price Grape Cutting.  10.18.14

Replanted peaches.  10.18.14

Pruned grape cutting.  10.18.14

Replanted grape.  10.18.14

Update. Tree and shrub propagation and grafting. 5.24.14

Asian pear graft.  Recovery from deer chewing.

Hamese Asian Pear Graft.

Euro Pear graft on Asian Pear

 Plant propagation and grafting efforts.  Many of them did well.  A few did not grow.

All of the pear grafts took.  One was chewed by deer but is recovering.  Some bloomed.  That resulted in a delay of growth, but ultimately they all grew.  That includes the 3 varieties of Asian pear, on an Asian pear tree. and 2 varieties of European pear on a different Asian pear tree.

Learnings -

1.  Don't leave a long tail on the whip.  The graft still takes, but the tail doesn't always callous onto the stock, leaving an appendage.

2.  Best to take scion wood that doesn't look like it will bloom.

Close-up Healing Whip and Tongue, Pear

Liberty Apple Graft on Honeycrisp

 All of the apple grafts also took.  The learnings were the same as for pear.

I should probably remove the liberty apple from the newly grafted scion from this spring, but it looks ok and I think I will leave it to see what happens.  The scion is growing rapidly despite also making an apple.

I unwrapped most of the rest today.  They have finished formation of callous, so no benefit to leaving them longer.  The wrapping did not strangle the new growth.  So this was a good time.

Of the grafted lilacs, it looks like only one of the approximately 6 grafts took.  I don't know why.  It might be timing, or lilacs might be more difficult to graft.  Or there may have been compatibility issues.

Still I am excited that one did take and is growing vigorously.

All three of the lilac offsets that I separated from mature bushes, grew.  One was eaten by deer or rabbits, but is recovering.

Laburnums, grown from cuttings late Winter 2013, are growing.  They were eaten by deer or rabbits, but are recovering.  I had to move them again, because of an easement issue.

Ning started pussy willows from cuttings.  He started a hedge.  These were just pencil thick, or thicker, and about 18 inches to 2 feet long, taken from a big pussy willow at the Vancouver place.  He simply pushed the cuttings into the moist ground, about half way, in Feb.  All are growing.  Willows are very easy.

I updated on plum cuttings already.  All approx 8 Hollywood plum cuttings struck.  None of the approx 8 Shiro plum cuttings struck.  About 1/2 of the approx 8 flowering quince cuttings struck, but they are not growing vigorously.  The forsythia cuttings are touch and go.  2 still seem alive.

Lilac Growth on Separated Offset

Shinseiki Asian Pear Graft

Laburnum from Cutting.  Year 2.

Pussy Willow from Cutting.  Year 1.

Jonagold dwarf apple graft.

Puttering. 5.8.14

Hollywood Plum Cuttings

Sungold Tomato Plants 5.8.14

 Puttering around the yard.

The Hollywood Plum cuttings continue to have small leaves.  None of them has dried off.  The Shiro Plum cuttings' leaves all crispified and died.  I weeded around the living cuttings.  It is raining today.  If they stay alive, that's a bunch of little plum trees.  Hollywood is a very tasty, very richly colored plum.

Planted the 2 Sungold tomato plants today.  They doubled in size in a couple of weeks.  I hope the seedlings progress well too.

The Cincinnati Market radishes are interesting.  They are shaped like carrots, but the flavor is all radish, juicy and peppery.

Cincinnati Market Radish.  5.8.14

 The front yard trees all look pretty good.  I planted these Summer 2012.   This is the first bloom for the Mountain ash.   The Laburnum bloomed last year, but it was cut short by frost.  I don't know if the Greenspire Linden will  bloom.

The Laburnum was leaning with the wind, so it got a stake to straighten it.  That will need to stay in place for a year or two.

All of the trees have had some dilute doses of organic nitrogen in late winter and spring, for a boost.

Front Yard Trees.  5.8.14

Apple Grafts

Apple Grafts

These are the little trees I grafted in March.  Sutton's Beauty and Spitzenberg.  Growing nicely.  With this much of a top, it's safe to say the grafts definitely took.  I'll keep them growing in containers, this year.  Next year they can go into their permanent spots.

I'm very pleased, I created my own grafted apple trees.

All of the pear grafts this year took too.  Next year I might add some more.

Laburnum Cutting

Laburnum grown from cutting the same way as figs. Looking pretty good. I potted them a few weeks ago. I'm happy to have Spring here now, and the cuttings growing. I'm recuperating and can't do much for a month or two. Fortunately, watering cuttings and minor tasks are do-able and cheer me up.

Laburnum Cuttings

Brought the cuttings home to pot in potting soil, and some mycorrhizal inoculantIt's a delicate stage for them. New growth is all white - needs light to make chlorophyll. But not too bright - could burn. And could dry out. Interesting to see what happens.

Hardwood Cuttings from Trees. Progress Report.

I'm starting to think this propagation method is very good. Not just for figs. Fig cuttings root easily by almost any method. These were prunings I had lying around this winter. I did what I've been doing to jump start fig cuttings. Use cuttings about 6-8 inches long. As thick as practical - pencil thickness seems good.  Thinner or thicker seems to work. Make incision through bark and cambium layer using sharp pocket or kitchen knife. Dip in rooting hormone dip-and-grow at 1:10 dilution 1 to 2 minutes. Wrap in moist paper towel. Place into plastic bag and close. Keep in warm place.

These cuttings are from ornamental plum.  They have calloused well.  There is some top growth.  Not sure if roots are developing yet.  I think I see root initials.  So these are still in the "maybe" category as to whether they will develop into little trees.



Laburnum (golden chain tree) cuttings. These are also a few weeks old. Same method. The top cutting is a "mallet" cutting. It is a small branch. The base is trimmed with some remaining stem from the 2-year growth, trimmed.  The bottom cutting is similar, pruned just below the junction with the previous years' growth.  The middle cutting is just new wood.  All have calloused and are forming roots.  Some previous years' growth seems to work best.  Small sample size of course.  With these, some previous years' cambium seems to help.

Redmond American Linden. These have some callous. They leaked a jelly-like sap for a while. Not much. The root initials look promising.  They are also in the "maybe" category, as to whether I'll get trees from them.  If the tops grow too fast, they might overwhelm the almost embryonic roots.

Wild Cherry and Wild Plum seeds

I found these with the other seeds.  I collected them in July.  There are also some plum seedlings that germinated earlier.  Might as well see what happens.  First, crack the nuts open, remove the seed.  Then place seed in moist paper towel, in zip lock back, in refrigerator for a couple of months.

Wild Cherry seeds. I tried cracking them open with pliers. Smashed the seeds. This worked, sort of. Then sanded a few for scarification only.

The pliers worked for the plum seeds, if I placed the seed into the open part of the pliers, not the flat part. Vice Grips work better but I don't have them here at home now. I would like a wild cherry, which I would prune aggressively to keep it small. The ones that provided these seeds, have a great flavor. If all of the wild plums grow, I don't know what I'll do with the trees. Something will come up.

Ginkgo biloba seed preparation

It's pretty easy.

They've been in the baggies for a few days. I imagine that if I wanted to wait longer, I would need to refrigerate or keep them cool outside.

It's easy. The seeds mush out. Knife is optional. I did not wear gloves. For the sensitive, gloves are a good idea. Separate the seed from the pulp. Placed the seeds in a bowl of water. The pulp went into the compost. This was under a kitchen hood that vents outside. Working outside is a good option too. Otherwise loved ones will complain about the odor.

Rinsed under running water. Dried on paper towel. Once dry overnight, I'll keep in the fridge until planting.

Kitchen Garden Progress Notes - Container Gardening

The yellow wax bush beans that I planted a 2 weeks ago. There appears to be some slug damage, so I added Worry Free organic slug bait.

Egyptian Walking Onions, multiplier onion, loves this method of growth. I planted these Oct. 29th. We did not eat many scallions this year, so these will go mainly toward eating onions and starts for a larger number for this fall. I don't know why we didn't eat more scallions, I love eating them.

German Garlic from Southern Exposure, also planted Oct 29th. They are also flourishing in the tubs. There should be some great garlic this summer.

Tomatoes I planted in a tub last week. The temp today is 49 - probably too cool, although last week it was in the 70s. The tubs warm up faster, so may be OK. This tub has seedlings from mesclun that should be ready to pull out in a couple of weeks. The sticks are mulberry prunings, an attempt to see if they grow by the "stick it in the ground" method that I use for figs, grapes, and forsythia. And roses.