I have suckers growing from a 7-inch diameter root. This root is only 1 inch below the surface. I have mounted soil/compost around the bottom of the suckers to induce rooting but was unsuccessful. I also air-layered a sucker in May which died after 4 months. Usually a sucker will root if the root it grew from is cut but because the suckers are growing off a large root I cannot do this. My intention is to get rootstocks for grafting. What should I do? Please advise. Sengyan
If all you desire is to obtain a supply of cherry rootstocks, these can easily be started from seed. Seeds may be taken from your own cherries, or from fruit bought in stores. Be sure to plant only seeds from locally grown fruit, since those from another area may not be well adapted to your region. Cuttings such as blueberry, apple, plum, pear, flowering crap, and cherry are all very difficult to root by regular cuttings. For these hard to root cuttings a process called air-callusing is normally used successfully. An air-callused cutting is a combination of an air-layered and a soft wood cutting. The general idea is to induce a callus to form while the potential cutting is still attached to the parent tree. Then, after the cutting is finally made, it roots quickly and heavily. - Millet
Thank you Millet. Would you please post the instructions for 'air-callusing '? Being new at this the more details the better. I googled the term but did not find anything. Thank you. Sengyan
Rootstocks used by nurseries these days may themselves be clonal cultivars rather than random seedlings as depending on the situation specific characteristics such as dwarfness, tolerance of adverse soil conditions or pest resistance may be required. Rooted cuttings of rootstock cultivars can be purchased comparatively cheaply from nurseries offering rootstocks.
As a follow up to Ron B's very good advice, if you do purchase commerciallly grown cherry rootstock, two excellent, and highly prized, rootstocks to use are Mazzard or Mahaleb. Mahaleb rootstocks produce a more dwarf tree than the Mazzard, and in some cases they are shorter lived. I don't presently have time to post complete instructions on Air-Callused cuttings, but will try to post the instructions later this evening. - Millet
sengyan, here is the information you requested. Air Callused Cuttings: (1) In early spring, find suitable branches on the dormant cherry tree you want to propagate. The future cutting should consist of the previous season's growth, and be no larger than a pencil in diameter. About 8 inches from the top end, cut a strip of bark 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide from the cutting to be. Make the cutting completely encircling the branch. Carefully remove the cut strip from the wood, being careful not to cut into the wood itself. (2) Using a small watercolor paintbrush, cover the bare wood on the branch with a thin coating of past you have previously made by mixing 1-part extra strength rooting powder with an equal amount of Captan (to control disease), a dash of confectioners sugar to help supply plant energy, and enough B-Nine or other liquid growth retardant to make a paste. (3) After the wound has been covered with paste, surround it with a wad of slightly moist sphagnum moss. Then, with some plastic food wrap or film, wrap it carefully, making it as moisture tight as possible. Fasten the wrap with plastic electrical tape or a plant tie. Lastly cover the plastic wrap with a piece of aluminum foil to keep out the hot sun. (4) In one or two months, a thick fleshy callus should have formed on the wound. The callused cutting may then be clipped off the tree just below the wrapping. Unwrap it, dip the callused end in rooting powder, stick it CAREFULLY in a pot containing a mixture of moistened perlite and vermiculite, making sure the callus is well buried. From now on treat it as a softwood cutting. If possible, keep it under a mist until roots form. Presto - a plant with no grafts to worry about. You can make as many cuttings at a time as you desire. Good luck. - Millet
Millet: Thank you very much. I will try my hand at this. The stripping of the ring of bark is similar to that for air-layering. I have a few questions please. 1. Is Captan a fungicide and can it be substitute with another fungicide? 2. If I can't find B-Nine what would be a suitable substitute? I have heard of growth stimulant but not of growth retardant. I think this is to retard root growth. 3. Is it possible to use coconut coir instead of sphagnum moss? Thank you again Sengyan
Howdy Sengyan, Out of curiosity, do you know what variety is your sour cherry. If you just want another sour cherry from that tree, I suggest that you propagate it with softwood cuttings or root cuttings. Sour cherry root farily readily with softwood cuttings under misting beds if they are taken at the end of June (in the Edmonton area). IBA at 0.5% (readily available at all Nursery outlets in Edmonton) speeds up rooting. So you have already miss the season for this year. Roots, about pencil size or slightly smaller dug before permanent freeze up will produce shoots and roots in winter. If you cut the roots into 2 to 3 inch length and lay them horizontally under an inch of potting mix sometime in December, you should get plants by February. Keep the potting mix moist but not wet. You do not have to treat the roots with anything. A heating cable set to heat the potting medium to 22 degrees Celcius will speed up rooting and shoot formation. Best of luck Peace Thean
Captan is a fungicide and it is not available in Canada at the retail level, possibly available commercially (as in big container, highly concentrated). B-nine is a commercial growth redartant, not available in Canada at the retail level, there are no growth hormones/retardents registered for use at the retail level in Canada that I know of. I find the post with the 'paste' recipe is odd, very generic mix rates and some very potent products, and confectioners sugar to supply the plant energy? I havent heard of that before, I thought that was what the leaves did via photosynthesis, maybe I need to go back to school. :)
I am again disconsolate, but not all that surprised by Jimmyq's remarks concerning common everyday agricultural chemicals not being available to the general public in Canada. I have found that many very common chemicals that are available at any retail garden center in the USA cannot be purchased, or are in some manner restricted to the people of Canada. Captan is among the most commonly available and ordinarily used fungicide in the States. Any person what so ever, can purchase and is free to use Captan - it is an extremely common retail fungicide. B-Nine, by it very nature, is mostly used by landscape and greenhouse operators. B-Nine is regularly used by bedding plant growers to get seedlings such as petunias to grow short and bushy instead of tall and straggly and is available from absolutely every nursery and greenhouse supply houses. The reason for using B-Nine in Air Callused cuttings is that when it is spread on the wound, it counteracts certain rooting inhibitors that are present in the tree. Canada has always been my second favorite country, after my own, and I have visited Canada many times. I been in the nursery business all of my adult life, and frequently amazed at the lack of very common, ordinary agricultural and nursery supplies that are not available, or are restricted to the Canadian public. Amazing but sad. To answer sengyan questions: 1. Yes 2. I don't know (maybe none in Canada) 3. Yes Millet
I have been in the industry since 1989 when I was in high school, I have seen the pesticide department reduced to a pesticide aisle then to a counter. Where we had 3 products with the same active (Roundup, Clear-it, Laters weed killer) in them we now have one, or the product has been discontinued. From what I have learned the registration process in Canada doesnt 'ban' products the way the EPA does generally speaking, what they do is raise the registration fee to a point that no one could make a profit. That and the fact the many of the cities and municipalities have usage bans have reduced the options to the homeowner drastically. B-9 is (at least was) regularly used on bedding plants here also to keep the plants small and yet they would be in full bloom. There is a product in Canada called Growth Plus, it contains 400ppm of cytokinin, with a little online research you may find data about it being a growth regulator. ;)
Millet. Thank you for taking the trouble to provide me with information. With regards to B-Nine would the product Growth Plus mentioned by Jimmyq be used as a substitute? If I can find growth Plus I shall use it. Jimmyq. Thank you for your reply. Can Growth Plus be used as I asked above? Thean. My thanks to a fellow Edmontonian. The sour cherry is Montmerency.(sp?) I have tried my hand at rose cuttings and will try cherry cuttings next spring. For now I will try root cuttings. Can I do this right away instead of waiting till December? Can I use coconut coir or compost or the soil from my wife's veggy garden as the medium instead of potting mix. Sengyan
I cant honestly tell you as I havent practiced that method. It is normally applied as a foliar spray or root drench. If overapplied it will be a growth retardant, if used sparingly (as the label will describe) it is a growth promoter (very popular in the home hydroponics crowd ). Research Cytokinin, the active ingredient. Also another trade name it goes under is Nitrozyme. I see that you are in Edmonton, consider contacting Agri Organics, ask for Herb, he used to be the head cheese when I was in that end of the industry a few years back.
Sengyan, No I don't think Growth Plus will work. B-Nine's active ingreadent is Daminozide which is a totally different catagory of chemical. I find Thean's posting rather interesting. I have not known of nurseries having much success rooting softwood cherries. Perhaps it is variety specific. However, if Thean is successful with soft wood cuttings, then thats great. Take care and good luck. - Millet