Long Cuttings (3 and 6 ft.). - Dig holes in October!
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Planting long cuttings is like planting instant trees. Within a month after they start growing you will have branches and leaves!. The cuttings must be planted at least a foot deep, very soon after you receive them. The soil in February is frozen and there is no way for you to dig anything, then all holes must be dug when the weather is nice. October is a perfect time for that. Make the holes 12+" deep and 1-2 inches in diameter. You can use a small hole post digger, or an auger. The cuttings are 1" in diameter or less. After you dig the holes, put a bamboo cane in them and cover them so they do not get filled with ice or snow. The reason for this is so you can locate the holes in February if you have a couple of feet of snow. Another item that you should have is enough top soil so you can back fill the holes once the cuttings are planted. This soil should not be frozen (keep it in the house) All these preparations should be done before the ground freezes. When you receive the cuttings, most of them will have buds from top to bottom (some had branches that have been removed) and some buds on the top. Before you plant, you should remove most of those buds. There is a bud every 1 to 2 inches. Leave a hand full of buds at the top of the cutting. Now scratch the lower 8" of the cutting with a blade and dust it with Hormodin or any other rooting hormone. Carefully put the cutting in the hole, backfill and water (I know it will freeze in a few minutes but do it anyway. If the hole is small enough, the cutting will be snug and no other support will be needed, otherwise you will need more support like a 6 ft. bamboo cane driven in the ground parallel with the cutting (you can do this do this in October also, when you dig the hole) and attached to the cutting with cable ties. When the cutting starts growing in April, all the buds on it will start growing at the same time. Also roots will be formed at the bottom of the cutting. This root system is very small at the beginning, and inadequate for all the branches that are growing topside and the tree may die if too many branches are allowed to grow, that is the reason I ask you to remove most of the buds, so you have only a few branches growing on the top end of the cutting. Does this method work? This is what I did in 2008: My neighbor came to let me know that 3 of my weeping willows were in his property. He had called surveyors and they were putting little pink flags all over the property line. 3 of my willows were indeed 2 ft. inside his property. That meant I had to do something. I told my neighbor I would move them when they were dormant. I then dug 3 holes about 2 ft. deep and 3 inches in diameter( in my property of course). I covered the holes with a tile and stuck a bamboo cane in the ground so I could find them in case they were covered with snow when I was going to use them. I waited until the middle of February, got my Chainsaw and cut all 3 trees down. I kept the Chainsaw as close as possible to the ground. Then I removed all the branches from the trees so that at the end all I had was 3 long sticks about 12 ft. long. and about 3" in diameter. I scratched the bottom of these cuttings and dusted rooting hormone to the wounded areas and dropped them in the holes. I then packed soil back and had to support them so they would not move at all, for that, I drove some pipes in the ground parallel to the "sticks" - the sticks were about 2" in diameter- and used cable ties to keep them from moving or swaying. I watered them well. The trees started making a lot of growth by early April. Many branches were removed, specially any that grew below 8 ft. All others on top were thinned so there were only about 4 branches. As the trees grew, I allowed more branches to develop and today, (October 2011) the branches touch the ground. All 3 trees are alive and growing. I did this with a weeping willow but you can also do it with most poplars and many willows. Below is a photo of one of my willows. This particular tree is over 20 ft. tall today. Working with 3 ft. cuttings There is no need to plant them as deep as the longer cuttings, you should still support them, at least for a few months. Other than that, everything you do to a 6 ft. cutting you must do to a shorter cutting in order to succeed. |
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The boxes I use to ship these are 74" long. Depending on the type of cuttings you buy, I can fit from 4 to 16 cuttings in one box. Be aware, the post office has a surcharge for long boxes, they call it the Balloon Priority and it is $16.75. That does not keep me from strapping 3 or 4 boxes together and shipping them as one. (Surcharge remains $16.75 )
Here is another idea: To make these "Privet Standards" I took some 6 ft. privet long cuttings and planted them in large containers for a year. I allowed branches to grow in the top 8 inches of them and started shaping them as they grew. Year after, they were planted in the ground, and shaping continued. Branches had to be removed often from the bottom. As branches grow within the ball, they are bent towards the inside. When I am done with them, they will be solid 16" balls on top of a stick. You don't have to limit yourself to make just one large ball, they could be 2, 3 or whatever you want. Standards can be made out of many of the long cuttings, such as dapple willow, California Privet, gazi, etc. You are limited by your imagination.
Dapple Willow--- Why not? Give it a try!
I have been taking and selling these cuttings since late December. First come, first served. I have a very limited supply of these, only about 400 cuttings. I have many cuttings of some trees, a few of others, before you place an order, please email me to make certain I have what you need. As you receive your cuttings, please plant them right away, if the weather is nice, they will start rooting right away, if it is cold, that will keep them alive but if you don't plant them, that may kill them.
Hormodin
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