Can you Store Cuttings?

[TimberHawk]

How long can a person store cuttings and how would you go about it? I know it's easiest to harvest them around the same time that you stick them in the ground, but I have a lot more free time now than I will in the spring and I'm trying to maximize it.

 

[Bill]

They will last quite a while in the crisper drawer of you’re refrigerator.

If you want to store a bunch you’ll need a freezer and a thermostatically controlled power outlet to outsmart the freezers thermostat. think kegerator.

Set that to 28 degrees and they will last 12 months or more. If they don’t dry out.

 

[TimberHawk]

They will last quite a while in the crisper drawer of you’re refrigerator.

If you want to store a bunch you’ll need a freezer and a thermostatically controlled power outlet to outsmart the freezers thermostat. think kegerator.

Set that to 28 degrees and they will last 12 months or more. If they don’t dry out.

Thanks, Bill. It sounds like I’ll have to put it off until spring. I don’t have an extra freezer and there’s zero chance I’d get away with storing hundreds of cuttings in the crisper drawer of my kitchen fridge.

 

[Kdog]

Thanks, Bill. It sounds like I’ll have to put it off until spring. I don’t have an extra freezer and there’s zero chance I’d get away with storing hundreds of cuttings in the crisper drawer of my kitchen fridge.

You may be able to find a free or really cheap refrigerator on CL, or you can pick up a cheap dorm style refrigerator for around $50 if you look around.

 

[Skelly]

You can take a plastic bin (kitty litter box) and drill holes in the bottom for drainage. Then you add construction sand, wet it and then just stick the cuttings in the sand. They will harden off over winter and then in the spring they will start putting on roots.

I normally put the whole plastic bin in a white garbage bag to act like a green house

You can pack them in tight and get a ton of cuttings in the plastic bin.

 

[Tree Spud]

Use a 2 gallon ziplock to store them in. Put a damp paper towel in to keep them moist. I take cuttings in Jan and store them in the frig until May.

 

[cavey]

I will throw in a huge "yes" on that too. I wax the ends and do the zip lock bag with a damp paper towel in it and for a few months had the crispers full and bottom shelf. Close to 1000 red osier cuttings. I would wait a bit but as mentioned before drying out is the major concern. This is the 2nd time when you want a Beer fridge in ones life!

 

[TimberHawk]

My ground is still frozen in MN, but I’m still looking for an easy way to work ahead. If I take cuttings now and store them in a snow bank on the north side of my shed, will they stay damp and dormant? The snow bank always lasts long into spring, so I was thinking it might hit all of the notes on recommendations in the thread. Damp and just below freezing. With our current warm temps, I think I’d only need to store them for a week or two.

 

[Bill]

Might work. I would insulate them from touching the snow directly. Don’t want freezer burn.