Red Osier Cuttings - Propagating Bed/box

[cavey]

Finally got around to posting pics of the sand bed propagation box I made for red osier cuttings. I was going to top cover it with poly - kind of like the bag trick I've done before but the fact that I even got it filled with sand and planted was a miracle this year. Pulled the cuttings out of cold storage (my kitchen fridge) June 23rd which is pretty crazy in itself but as of yesterday I have a bunch leafing out. The density might be a bit high but we will see how easy it is to bare root them out of the sand if they make it.

 

[g squared 23]

Anything special on your planting technique? Do you apply anything to the buried tip? Try to plant at least 2 buds deep? Cool project, look forward to following your progress.


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[trampledbyturtles]

What's the plan to harvest? Guessing while dormant but not frozen remove the sideboard to let the sand drain, looks like a fun project.

 

[cavey]

I just cut while dormant (roughly 4/5 bud sites 10-"-12" long) waxed the ends and put in a zip lock bag with a damp piece of paper towel and toss in the fridge; Normally done the same time as my grafting same with the planting. I've only done direct cutting plantings and use of miracle grow potting soil bags as make shift growing mediums. I have done both fall plantings and spring plantings of RO once they have rooted out. RO is a pretty resilient/hardy plant and if you get it to start growing it will do well if kept watered. Pretty simple: 2-3 buds in the soil and 2 out - I didn't use any hormone but you could.
My plan this spring was to get a large batch (800-1000) of cuttings growing and then fall and spring plant them out. I'm feathering out a few areas of woods and want some browse lines/rows of RO... plus RO looks really cool. I got way behind this spring with both my grafting and cuttings so these were done much later then I wanted and will likely have less take than I normally would if planted earlier... I have access to an area that gets mowed (its a ditch along a county road in public right of way) that has thousands of new shoots which are ideal for sticking in to the soil (older RO can be a bit branchy while young shoots are like pencils ).... I'm trying the sand because from what Ive seen done by others I will be able to lift them out and separate the roots easily, the frame has 1/4 wire mess for a bottom - no critter issues and I lined the box with poly to help hold the moisture so I can get by with less care in keeping the cuttings wet/damp... I was going to cover the top with poly and just poke holes in it and stick the cuttings through - also as a moisture control and as a weed barrier but the sand is out of a pit and should have minimal weed seed - Its an experiment. But I should be able to grow out a ton of cuttings out of it and hope to build one more box for other cuttings.

Its just screwed together but I didnt plan on dropping a side to get the soil out, its just sand and once I get started lifting/digging them out I should be able to move through the box with out much effort keeping most of the sand in it. Some propagation beds use smaller gravel as the medium. Its 3 foot wide by 10 foot long 10 or 12 inches deep - I think 10" but not sure off hand. I have it under a tree for shade but have seen frames made out of 1" pvc framed up over the box with snow fence laid across for shade. They are leafing out now so we will see well it works -

 

[cavey]

PS I would not normally have planted so many in that dense of a pattern - Im just assuming that I will have a larger number of non growing cuttings due to how late I got them planted - I believe there is 800 cuttings in the box

 

[Rit]

How well do those cuttings work if you were to just stick them in the ground? I have a few damp areas that they would work really well.

 

[KDdid]

I planted hundreds this winter/spring in wet areas on my place. We had a wet spring, and my survival rate has to be @70%.


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[cavey]

How well do those cuttings work if you were to just stick them in the ground? I have a few damp areas that they would work really well.

Like KDdid stated if its wet enough they will grow pretty much anywhere... I have just stuck them into the ground in some wetter areas and they do well... I have plans for these somewhere else, a few spots a bit dryer..

 

[KDdid]

I’m going to pot some up next winter to babysit in the garden-this year I threw 6 into a large plastic pot full of soil, and they all sprouted. However when I separated them to give a few away I had 2 die. I was surprised at how small the roots were. I think starting them in separate pots and transplanting them in the fall will be lower stress.


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[Aaron]

I did some cuttings this spring, I planted most of them in my food plot screen. But I wanted to try rooting some in water, so I stuck some in a pail and I checked a month or so ago and I have roots. The cuttings I used were not perfect, that’s why they went into the pail. I would say 25% success rate. Won’t know if the other cuttings made it until spring.

 

[cavey]

I wonder if you stuck them in a 5 gal pail filled with some loamy soil and mostly water - essentially made a bucket of really wet mud, put poly over the top and sealed it, stabbed a handful of cuttings into the (through the poly) "sealed" bucked. If you could just leave them go with really never adding water - at least not at first. I just think there is a lot of added benefit to doing it in some type of soil medium over just water ... while you'll get roots in just water Im guessing the root systems will be more dense and healthier in soil/sand. Its just kind of fun trying diff ways... that looks like some pretty decent rooting though but 25% is too low for all the work it takes, I posted on the other red osier thread that so far I have a pretty high % of cuttings that are growing, usually you get that then some will die off but so far they have been pushing 70-80% on a generous guess

 

[Aaron]

These were some of the not so good cuttings I had left from planting in my screen in my food plot. Yes I think the mud idea would work I was thinking about the same thing but without the plastic cover.