Propagating Plum Trees from Hardwood Cuttings

Last year my plum tree was the victim of a savage deer rubbing attack. The bark was stripped all the way around the trunk leaving no possibility of water passing toward the top of the tree through the cambium layer. It was frustrating to say the least. Two varieties of plum trees are necessary for good cross pollination to produce fruit and one of mine was doomed. Or so I thought. I took a chance and cut the plum tree down then took cuttings from the top of the plum that had not yet had time to dry out.

I treated the cuttings with rooting hormone then stuck them in pots of soil. I put about 9 cuttings each in small 6 inch square nursery pots. I was in a hurry and just used whatever soil I had around at the time. I didn't expect much but figured it was worth a shot to save my tree. I put the cuttings over the winter in my greenhouse (which is unheated) and let the dormant cuttings rest over the winter. I didn't pay much attention to them until this spring. As I planted and watered my other greenhouse plants I watered the plum tree cuttings. Some of the plum branches began to sprout leaves which indicated they still had a chance but didn't necessarily mean that there were roots yet.  I checked a few periodically but they were not ready.  Those that I did check eventually died because I disturbed them (impatience will often work against you in plant propagation).

This morning I took a peek at the underside of the pots and found roots coming out! Of the cuttings I took I have about 7-8 cuttings that may have rooted. I won't pull them out until I am ready to transplant them all into pots so my exact success rate is still up in the air.

(Since I cut the top off my plum tree I left the root system in the ground which has since regrown quite a bit of foliage. I'll trim down the sprouting foliage to one strong main leader and let it grow.)  

The hardwood plant propagation method is best done in the late fall after dormancy. You can do this method with all kind of trees and shrubs.  When you prune your trees in the fall take a few pencil thick sized branches of first year growth, treat them with rooting hormone (may or may not be necessary depending on the plant), and overwinter them in a location where they will have some humidity. Tenting cuttings or covering with a plastic container will help to maintain enough humidity so they do not dry out. You don't have to have a greenhouse to grow cuttings! Once spring growth begins don't let the cuttings dry out.

Plant Propagation Note: If you are taking cuttings of fruit trees keep in mind that it will generate its own roots.  Which means if it was grafted on a different root stock before to create a dwarf or semi-dwarf variety it will grow to a full sized tree. It also may not have the same vigor as the previous plant did since grafted root stock is typically chosen for improved growth and disease resistance.

Have you tried making cuttings of fruit trees?

  

Two Plums Up!

This weekend I am proud to say that our edible landscaping situation has been improved by two plums! We planted two (hopefully delicious) plum trees along our sideyard. To get proper pollination you have to plant two varieties that bloom within the same window so that they may cross pollinate. The two plums trees were Prunus salacina 'Morris' and Prunus salacina 'Bruce'. One of the trees was loaded with spent blossoms and the promise of fruit to come. I know that it isn't wise to allow it to fruit in its first year in the ground. I "should" pick off the fruits and encourage the root system of the plum to fill in and get well established.

The truth is I'm not disciplined enough! I will be thinning some of the potential plums  in order to make larger fruit. If you look at the first picture of one branch of the tree you will see lots of spent blossoms clustered on the branch. One fruit every 2-4 inches depending on the size of fruit is probably the ideal spacing. Thinning also helps prevent the branches from getting too heavy. I witnessed a peach tree with tons of peaches on its branches break under the weight of the fruit last year in our neighborhood. The tree is fine today but the whole branch had to be cut back to the trunk.

I planted my two plums up on a slope along one side of our driveway. You can't see the spacing too well form the photo but they are about 12 feet apart. With proper pruning these trees should stay fairly manageable.

These two trees bring our little backyard orchard to a total of four fruit trees. The other two trees are apples, one a 'Gala' and the other a 'Fuji'. Apples need cross pollination just like the plums. What fruit trees do you grow in your garden?

Garden Update From The Weekend

This weekend was a busy one in the garden! The weather was sunny, although with a fair amount of wind on Saturday but Sunday afternoon was very pleasant.  This time of year is always exciting.  Gardening activities are resuming in earnest and a lot can be done to prepare for a great gardening season. 

On Saturday we began working on the Spring Hill Children's Garden.  It's the first of its kind here in our town.  We're combining it together with a community garden and a farmer's market and because of the amount of interest that has already been generated I'm sure it will be an exciting project!  We managed to get a portion of the garden marked off and a gathering area cleared for kids to listen to gardeners and for various project activities. I'll highlight more on the children's garden later.

On Sunday I picked up my tiller from a friend of mine who is skilled with small engine repair!  The last time I attempted to run the tiller not only wouldn't it start but I broke the pull string.  That was a frustrating day.  The tiller worked great in the vegetable garden yesterday to till in a large space that was covered in chickweed.  I'm suspecting that chickweed makes a pretty good green manure.   I do most of my gardening in raised beds but I've had to remove several beds recently and needed to clear the ground of weeds before putting anything else back in that area.  Winter weed grow fast when you look at them - and ten times faster when you don't!

Here's a quick look around the garden and yard so you can see how spring (even though it technically isn't spring yet) is progressing!

These daffodils are in the garden in front of the front porch.  We call it the "Front Porch Garden."  I'm not sure where we ever came up with such a unique name... The little patches of green in the garden are from yellow re-blooming daylilies.  Daylilies are sending up their foliage all over the garden right now.  I weeded some weeds a couple weeks ago but many have grown back since.  Weeding is a constant process!  It's definitely time to start mulching the gardens for spring.

The peach tree is very close to blooming now.  I'm hopeful that we'll actually get a few peaches from it this year but I'm only cautiously optimistic.  Peach trees are tricky to get fruit from without doing a major spray regimen.  I may spray a couple times this season with some Bt to see if that will suffice in keeping it pest free. 

We have two plum trees planted for cross pollination and one of them has already bloomed!  'Bruce' and 'Morris' are the two varieties we have.  Last year we were just about to get plums from one of our plum trees when the deer stopped by for breakfast...I'll be covering them with mesh this year after they begin to set fruit!

How was your weekend in the garden?

Around the Garden in February

Purple Crocuses

This are warming up again around our Tennessee garden this February.  While I'm writing this post spring-like storms are pouring down outside.  February again seems more like March than February!  But that's how it is sometimes with our weather patterns in TN.  We get some crazy stuff sometimes.  The unseasonable warmth has given rise to many things that would normally be postponed until later.  Some plants seem right on schedule while others are early - too early.  For today's post here is a quick look around my garden at what's happening!

Blooms from daffodils in the Japanese maple garden are brightening up our patio area!

The daffodils in the Japanese maple garden

 More crocuses are beginning to emerge in one of our front gardens. 

This 'Autumn Joy' sedum is sprouting new growth.  'Autumn joy' has a tendency to flop over in the summer.  You can reduce that from happening some by trimming it back in mid to late spring.

Here's a mass of cilantro that was planted last fall from seed.  Check out this post for more growing tips on cilantro - it's an easy herb to grow!

The forsythia is almost ready to bloom.  Here's one flower that is just about open.  Blooms are coming along at breakneck speed!

A peach tree I planted last spring is loaded with flower blossoms.  It may need some help this year.  Deer visit us in the night, frosts may be coming, and who knows what other ailments may arise.  Peaches are picky!  

The following picture is my favorite of this post.  The frost crystals on this viburnum are highlighted by the morning sunshine from the other morning.  Very cool - more ways than one! 

How's spring coming in your garden?

Still Waiting on the Warmth and a Vegetable Garden Update

This winter has been bitterly cruel.  Not bitterly cold, just bitterly cruel.  It's tempted us into believing that spring was almost here, then the ground hog predicted 6 more weeks of winter..and we laughed. The weather was warm and what do groundhogs really know about the weather?  Do they have live Doppler radar in buried in their dens?  I don't think so, but hey, I've been wrong before! Seriously though I'm ready for warmer days.

The trees are too.  One of our plum trees is only a few days of sunshine away from bursting out in blooms.  It's too early for it to flower. It would be so easy for a damaging frost between now and April 15th to completely decimate any 2012 plum harvest.  Fortunately they are small trees and if I keep an eye on the plums and the weather I should be able to protect them. The weather forecast today actually has 60 degree temperatures, but it also calls for rain which means very little outside time for this gardener.  The normal February cool weather returns soon but the warm days coming closer!

An Update From the Vegetable Garden: 

Sugar snap pea seedling

There are two updates from the vegetable garden - both of which are positive developments!  At the end of January I planted seeds for sugar snap peas and spinach and this morning I have discovered that indeed we do have those two vegetables in our garden's future.  To give you an idea of what kind of temperatures these two plants can take, the lows over the last week have dipped multiple times into the 20's and even lower.   Day time highs were in the 30's and the occasional 40's.  If your reading this outside of the U.S. please note those are Fahrenheit temps.  These are two very cold tolerant plants, even as seedlings.  

Spinach seedling

The soil in this bed needs some amending.  Notice the clumpy lumps of clay?  Clay is full of nutrients but is tightly compacted and isn't friendly to root growth.  I'll continue top dressing the soil with compost and grass clippings.  Eventually the soil will be the nice dark loamy garden soil that is in every gardener's dream garden.


The rest of the vegetable garden is in desperate need of preparation.  The weeds have grown all over and we're covered in self-sowing cilantro!  I love cilantro put we don't need it in the quantities we have.  Maybe soon the garden will dry out enough to work the soil!

What's growing in your vegetable garden in February?