Cuttings vs Potted

[gwm]

I stopped into a Menards Garden Center yesterday. They had ROD, Ninebark and some Willow in pots. I think they were all priced at $24.99.

What are the pros / cons of using these over, say, the cuttings thru Big Rock Trees?

 

[g squared 23]

The biggest con of potted plants from big box stores is the price. I can get 15 bare root shrubs from a dnr nursery for about that price. I can’t speak to the pros and cons of cuttings as I haven’t tried them. You could always buy just a few potted plants allowing them to grow into a source of your own cuttings. That would take time and patience, that last virtue not being common amongst habitat freaks.


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[cavey]

Potted plants will be on their own established roots and have a big head start over cuttings with no roots.... its just that simple. Cuttings will be more dependent on getting enough water, your kind of starting at zero with cuttings... both will have the potential to be browsed off, if not caged.
Potted plants can be planted pretty much anytime, bare root stock needs to be dormant and planted in the spring for best survival .... and cuttings need to be in a soil environment where they can put on roots. They can be started dormant and after they leaf out....

Its a generalization but potted plants are in a way easier to deal with, wont or shouldnt go through much of a root shock when being transplanted.

The big benefit to cuttings are they are much cheaper and you can plant them in mass. Which brings up the question of why dont you just go out and get cuttings for free. Willow and osiers are almost fool proof and are everywhere if you look.

You can take a bunch/few cuttings off your potted plants too as a combo option.
The potted plants .... Cutting them back doesnt hurt them ... its only painful because you paid a lot for something that started as a cutting.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

First go at it last year I found that 18-24” bare root seedlings from the SWCD for $38/ bundle of 25 had much better survival than cuttings. I didn’t take very good care of the cuttings though. Wouldn’t make sense to pay twice as much for cuttings from big rock than the bare roots cost from a SWCD IMO.

We may start stabbing a handful of cuttings in the ground by my wife’s garden now so they get protected and watered a lot and then plant them the following years once they have roots.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I mentioned SWCD but I know mn dnr sells rooted seedlings as well but you need a min of 500 seedlings (could mix with other species) to order from them. 500 ROD is $345, so rooted seedlings for basically 1/4 of what big rock charges for cuttings.

 

[Bill]

Pro - it has roots.
Con - it requires a shovel.

In my clay that con can be a big one.

 

[Tree Spud]

I would go with rooted trees over cuttings any day. Try cuttings for a number of years and they failed consistently.

Large potted shrub like that would allow you to get multiple seed producers fast so tye birds can eat the seeds and start dispersing.

 

[Brian662]

There is absolutely no way I'd ever pay that price for a shrub - what Menards is charging.

I've had much better success with bare root than cuttings, but admittedly I don't care as much about the cuttings because I cut them from a road ditch.

If you have any kind of a deer population, expect to protect shrubs for a couple years before cutting them loose. Even this year I had a bunch of ROD protected, that got girdled by critters with our deep snow. Just another reason I'd never pay $25 for a shrub...plus you can find 6' apple trees that cheap.

 

[TenPoint]

I’m going to make my own potted ROD next spring in pots using cuttings from my own plants. I planted cuttings over a decade ago. They need protection and matting. HP and willows were east to grow. ROD was tougher. Mixed results with most shrubs. Had better luck with seedlings. I’d never buy a potted bush/tree /whatever from a big box store. Way too much $$$.

 

[bigboreblr]

I wouldn't go buying more than 1 or 2 and I would cage them. If you do not have somewhere locally to get cuttings from, then do that. Local soil and water districts sales commonly have them, but your likely too late to get any now.

never ordered from a regular online nursery for bareroots, but they're out there.

Several members buy a bag of potting soil, then poke a bunch of red dogwod twigs in it. I put about 75 in my tree nursery. Mixed a bag of garden soil in my clay, ten used the bag as a weekmat and mulched around it. I reguarly water the young grafted trees in my little 10x10ft spot, so they'll be ok. There's a recent thread about it. I'd amost say panting dogwood or small shrubs is a priority over apple trees, it just the apple trees take a long time to come around.

 

[gwm]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I ended up buying bare root seedlings from Chief River Nursery. I have ROD, Gray Dogwood, Arrowwood Viburnum, Highbush Cranberry and American Plum on the way.

Now to figure out exactly where to plant on the property. Analysis Paralysis.....:)