I have a lot of Red Osier Dogwood in the cattail marsh on my property. I read/watched some videos on dogwood propagation by sticking cuttings in the ground. I would really like to establish a nice dogwood thicket in a wet, kinda useless area of our property so I thought I'd give this a try. I'll admit, as I went along, my strategy quickly turned to "quantity" over "quality". Hoping this has at least some success, I planted a couple hundred cuttings over a few hours. Question for you all....anyone else on here try this? If so, what was your success rate? Here's a quick video of my work. Let me know what you all think! Thanks as always for the help/input!
Planting Red Osier Dogwood Using Cuttings
- Thread starter MattDDO
- Start date
Bill
Administrator
I’ve had pretty good luck with them but I used rooting hormone. You may be OK with out it. I also like to keep what’s out of the ground much shorter than what’s in the ground. But I’ve never planted them in wet ground like that. Doesn’t look like the roots are going to struggle to provide water to the top growth where you planted.
Willows would go gang busters in that spot!
Willows would go gang busters in that spot!
St. Croix
A good 3 year old buck
I typically plant cuttings in an ice cream bucket. Stack like 25 in there to get rooted and put on 3" or so top growth. Then transplant to 1 gallon rootmakers for the remainder of the year. The following spring I will field plant them. Success without rooting hormone is 60%. Top growth throughout that first year is about 2'. Nice easy process which in my opinion really excellerates growth
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
John is the expert on ROD cuttings. I started a bunch indoors in rootmakers and that worked well. Two buds below and 2 above the soil worked for me. I used a little rooting hormone. I understand they are fairly easy to start out doors but need protection from deer until they are established.
John-W-WI
Administrator
Nice video - well done.
As far as planting them from cuttings, I think yours will do fine. The biggest challenge with ROD is they are relatively slow to establish, and don't like competition while getting started. But as you've shown you can plant a bunch in a hurry for little or no cost so it doesn't really matter if some don't make it.
Rooting hormone will only help on ROD but I've grown them without.
As far as how much above ground and how much below; when using a ground cover you should have 10" plus of a 12" cutting in the ground. When planting in the wild it might help to plant as deep as you can (can be very deep on wet ground) so that you can leave more above ground to compete with native plants. ROD's anaerobic tolerance is high so you can plant deep in muck and not worry about it drowning.
Bill is right, willows would do well on that site!
-John
As far as planting them from cuttings, I think yours will do fine. The biggest challenge with ROD is they are relatively slow to establish, and don't like competition while getting started. But as you've shown you can plant a bunch in a hurry for little or no cost so it doesn't really matter if some don't make it.
Rooting hormone will only help on ROD but I've grown them without.
As far as how much above ground and how much below; when using a ground cover you should have 10" plus of a 12" cutting in the ground. When planting in the wild it might help to plant as deep as you can (can be very deep on wet ground) so that you can leave more above ground to compete with native plants. ROD's anaerobic tolerance is high so you can plant deep in muck and not worry about it drowning.
Bill is right, willows would do well on that site!
-John
Rit
5 year old buck +
I just stuck about 250 cuttings in the ground this weekend. Some with ground cover some without. I didn’t use any rooting hormone. I tried some a few years back but was sticking them in very wet ground so not sure if it helps in that situation or not. About 50 of the cuttings were ROD.
I really haven't looked into willows until you and Bill mentioned it. Doing a little research, looks like (as you guys say) they'll grow really well in that area. As far as being a benefit to deer, are they a desirable browse as well? Would they use willows for bedding? Just good all-around cover? And what type of willow is best for deer? If you guys have experience with willows, I'm all ears!
Bill
Administrator
If youre looking for browse type willows I’d look for dappled willow. They are more of a shrub than a tree.
I suggested any willow just for stem count not necessarily as browse. Though the will eat them all until they can’t reach them.
RyanJ
Buck Fawn
Cool video experiment! I've grown them really well in buckets in the yard. I didn't use rooting hormone and I had probably about 75% success rate. I've tried sticking some directly in the ground on our hunting property, but the deer or rabbits ate them before they could grow. I think I might need to time it better (when lots of green growth available for browsing) or protect them with cages next time.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
I had the weirdest experience with ROD. Last year I cut over a hundred 12" sticks and planted them all over my place in Canada. In the wet areas most of them died. In one area that isn't particularly wet, I watered them every few days, and they all died. In a dry area next to my house I planted about 20 cuttings and ignored them, and 80% survived.
I cut about 30 sticks this winter and put them in a vase of water in a window, amd about 10 rooted and leafed out. The rest just died.
I haven't cracked the code with cuttings yet, so for me it's just a numbers game.
I bought one potted ROD as a source for cuttings and planted it by my parents in Ohio, and it is going crazy. This helped push me toward the idea of growing them in pots before planting them out. I have some in pots now, and I will probably keep rooting cuttings in water and growing them in pots and then planting them out after they have established a good mass of roots.
I cut about 30 sticks this winter and put them in a vase of water in a window, amd about 10 rooted and leafed out. The rest just died.
I haven't cracked the code with cuttings yet, so for me it's just a numbers game.
I bought one potted ROD as a source for cuttings and planted it by my parents in Ohio, and it is going crazy. This helped push me toward the idea of growing them in pots before planting them out. I have some in pots now, and I will probably keep rooting cuttings in water and growing them in pots and then planting them out after they have established a good mass of roots.
Lee Haakenson
5 year old buck +
Is there anyone near Dunn county, WI willing to spare me some cuttings? Have a low wet area i would like to propogate it on. Id but you a case of beer of your choice!!
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Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
cavey
5 year old buck +
All along highway 12 West in the ditch line there are thousands - in the mow area. Nice straight sticks guessing about 18" plus . Between the tracks and the black top. Between Knapp and Menomonie there is a bunch guessing the same holds true to the west of Knapp. All on a mix of railroad property and a thin strip of private areas that Im guessing nobody cares about. In the ditch line, county mows it, in 5 min you could have hundreds. Last year I cut about 800 west of town off the state right of way took me less than a half hour. They are often in nice clumps - perfect for cuttings as they were mowed off last year and are new sprouts.
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