Cloning Machnines - Transferred from QDMA forum

[yoderjac]

Jack those look more like enlarged lenticels to me, but that is where roots form on many species....other species root from the callus callus along the cuts.If it is there i cant see it in the pics. just keep it up and don't give up till the top growth gives up!

You may be right. I don't notice anything at the cuts. I have been told that for hard to root species it can take a month in the cloning machine. These are hard to root and it has only been two weeks. As you can see, I'm just starting to get some bud opening. I'm thinking about going one more week without lights. Based on the last batch I tried in rootmakers, I should be able to get a couple weeks out of the top growth before the cutting expends all of its stored energy. That should get me the full month.
If this doesn't work, I'll try green cuttings.
Thanks,
jack

 

[yoderjac]

OK, it has now been about 3 weeks. Still no indication of rooting:

The top growth is to the point where I think I need to turn the lights on:

Even though I can see no difference between rows so far, I made the last application of rooting hormone, this time only to row 1. Things are not looking good, but ya never know.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Last night I got some house guests. One of the little boys wanted to see the forest in my basement. One of the things I showed him was the persimmons which were doing pretty much the same. When I checking plants tonight I saw that some of the of the foliage had wilted.

When I check them, the bottoms were bone dry. The pump was not spraying water on them. After a little poking around, I figured out the filter was clogged. Once I cleaned it, everything was working fine. I'm a bit worried that they were dry for up to 9 hours.

 

[yoderjac]

Because of the pump incident, I checked the cloning machine when I got home today. Something is happening but I'm not sure what:

Here are some close-up pics. There is clearly a yellow-brown substance forming on these. I don't know if it is good or bad.

Thoughts?

 

[yoderjac]

My guess is that its some type of slimy mold...I don't believe that is anything good but then again I've never tried to root anything in a water bath. Perhaps put a popsickle stick, chop stick, or new cutting in one of the holes and see what happens.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, it has been 4 weeks and things are not looking promising. Since this is an experiment, I decided to plant one row in rootmaker cells. One of the 5 was large enough that I did not fit in a cell, so I put it in a 1 gal rootbuilder pot.
Still no real sign of rooting. Here is a representative picture before planting:

I plan to let the rest in the cloning machine for another week and see if any survive.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I'm ready to declare this experiment a failure.
- No sign of rooting
- No differences between any of the groups.
- I started with 25, moved 5 to rootmaker cells last week, and only 2 left green.
- I expect those to die within days

I cleaned out the cloning machine today and have it sitting in the sunshine for the UV to help sterilize.
Next attempt, herbaceous cuttings!

 

[yoderjac]

any luck with the root cuttings?

 

[yoderjac]

Have not tried it with the persimmons yet. The jujube have not sprouted. I don't know if they are dead or not. I'll watch them for a few more weeks.

 

[yoderjac]

Just in time for grafting season! "A" for effort Jack...

 

[yoderjac]

My persimmons are just beginning to have the leaves start to unfurl. My scions are standing by...
This week I'm killin gobblers and planting Dunstan's!

 

[yoderjac]

Have not tried it with the persimmons yet. The jujube have not sprouted. I don't know if they are dead or not. I'll watch them for a few more weeks.

Patience is not one of my strong suits :eek:
It was 3/16/2013 when I made a previous post in this thread that talked about taking Jujube root cuttings and planting them in rootmaker cells. I figured it was a bust about the time all the persimmons died. Since I had two persimmons that were not quite dead yet, I put the entire tray outside on the deck.
Just for the heck of it, I've been watering it off and on because there were a few Dunstan runts in the tray. The squirrels got the runts because I didn't bother removing the nuts.
A week or so ago, I noticed some sprout in one of the cells that had a dead persimmon cutting in it. I figured it was some weed seed that blew into the cell since the tray was outside, but just in case, I decided to keep the tray watered. I still can't identify that sprout, but I still think it is a weed.
However when checking the tray tonight, I got a surprise!

If you look closely, you can see a sprout with a slight bit of green in the center right of the picture. This is one of the Jujube cells. I had written the Jujube root cuttings off, but I now think I just didn't wait long enough.
Unfortunately, I'm leaving town for a week so I won't be able to water them. We do have some rain in the forecast and I hope it is enough. Since the are only getting morning sun, it might be enough.
Fingers crossed!

 

[yoderjac]

Just got back in town. Updated pictures of the Jujube:

Both are of the same plant at different angles. Of the 12 Jujube root cutting I've planted, this is the only one with top growth starting.

 

[yoderjac]

I'm making a second attempt at cloning persimmons. I decided to start a new thread for it: http://www.qdma.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57264

 

[yoderjac]

I just thought I'd provide an update on the Jujube root cuttings.
It is now July 9th. I had a total of 5 Jujube trees produce top growth but the leaves on one turned brown and it appears to have died. I assumed all of the ones that haven't produced any top growth were losses. I needed the cells for my persimmon project, so I decided to dig them up and see what was going on. To my surprise, only one of them had died. The rest had either some new white root development and others also had some leaves starting below the mix. So, I ended up transplanting them into 1 gal rootbuilder II containers. So, here is the latest picture:

I guess when it comes to Jujube root cuttings, patience is truely a virtue.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

END TRANSFER FROM QDMA FORUM

 

[yoderjac]

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