I want to grow-on an alder which has traits which I want. I have found
that alder cuttings don't take, and I am looking for ideas. Apart from
trying again what didn't work last time, sticking a cutting in compost
with rooting compound, what can you suggest?

The possibilities I can think of a-

1) Use a mist propagator. They aren't magic, what tricks work? (My
nearest local garden shop, Peter Barretts, has become a general
giftware and household trinket store rather than a garden shop, and I
will have to look around for another supplier)

2) Air layering. Any suggestions as to technique?

3) Other possibilities?

Here, on Tyneside, the catkins are finished but the leaves haven't
come out yet, so I have some choice of timing.


Michael Bell

--

It is only the easiest of plants which take cuttings by the method you suggest. Failing to get cuttings to take by the method you try is a common experience. Many plants don't take from cuttings as easily as that, but if you know the right conditions they will take. That's why some of the plants we buy from nurseries are expensive - they only take from cuttings if you know the right technique.

For many plants we find it easiest to preserve desirable properties by grafting. That's a skilled task too.

Then finally there's micropropagation, which can work when the above two don't.

Alders are noted for their symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Franknia alni, which grows in root nodules and fixes nitrogen. Maybe you need somehow to ensure it is present in the soil to get rooting. There are also a range of fungi which grow only with alder, no doubt in mycorrhizal association. Some of that may help too.

In article ,
says...
I want to grow-on an alder which has traits which I want. I have found
that alder cuttings don't take, and I am looking for ideas. Apart from
trying again what didn't work last time, sticking a cutting in compost
with rooting compound, what can you suggest?

The possibilities I can think of a-

1) Use a mist propagator. They aren't magic, what tricks work? (My
nearest local garden shop, Peter Barretts, has become a general
giftware and household trinket store rather than a garden shop, and I
will have to look around for another supplier)

2) Air layering. Any suggestions as to technique?

3) Other possibilities?

Here, on Tyneside, the catkins are finished but the leaves haven't
come out yet, so I have some choice of timing.


Michael Bell


You probably need to graft onto some unwanted seedling rootstocks but you
will need a decent book and the right equipment before you start, and
remember nurserymen do not do things unless they are essential so if it
says to do it at a particular time of year you will have to be patient
there will be a reason.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In message
Charlie Pridham wrote:

In article ,
says...
I want to grow-on an alder which has traits which I want. I have found
that alder cuttings don't take, and I am looking for ideas. Apart from
trying again what didn't work last time, sticking a cutting in compost
with rooting compound, what can you suggest?

The possibilities I can think of a-

1) Use a mist propagator. They aren't magic, what tricks work? (My
nearest local garden shop, Peter Barretts, has become a general
giftware and household trinket store rather than a garden shop, and I
will have to look around for another supplier)

2) Air layering. Any suggestions as to technique?

3) Other possibilities?

Here, on Tyneside, the catkins are finished but the leaves haven't
come out yet, so I have some choice of timing.


Michael Bell


You probably need to graft onto some unwanted seedling rootstocks but you
will need a decent book and the right equipment before you start, and
remember nurserymen do not do things unless they are essential so if it
says to do it at a particular time of year you will have to be patient
there will be a reason.

Yes, well as it so happens, I have some unwanted seedling rootstocks,
which I was thinking of throwing away, but I never thought of using
them like this. What time of year do you suggest?

Commonsense/ignorance/theory suggests it should be at a time when the
cambium should be actively growing, maybe about the time they are
sending out new shoots? Any other views?

Michael Bell

--

"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
In message
Charlie Pridham wrote:

In article ,
says...
I want to grow-on an alder which has traits which I want. I have found
that alder cuttings don't take, and I am looking for ideas. Apart from
trying again what didn't work last time, sticking a cutting in compost
with rooting compound, what can you suggest?

The possibilities I can think of a-

1) Use a mist propagator. They aren't magic, what tricks work? (My
nearest local garden shop, Peter Barretts, has become a general
giftware and household trinket store rather than a garden shop, and I
will have to look around for another supplier)

2) Air layering. Any suggestions as to technique?

3) Other possibilities?

Here, on Tyneside, the catkins are finished but the leaves haven't
come out yet, so I have some choice of timing.


Michael Bell


You probably need to graft onto some unwanted seedling rootstocks but you
will need a decent book and the right equipment before you start, and
remember nurserymen do not do things unless they are essential so if it
says to do it at a particular time of year you will have to be patient
there will be a reason.

Yes, well as it so happens, I have some unwanted seedling rootstocks,
which I was thinking of throwing away, but I never thought of using
them like this. What time of year do you suggest?

Commonsense/ignorance/theory suggests it should be at a time when the
cambium should be actively growing, maybe about the time they are
sending out new shoots? Any other views?

Michael Bell

I don't know that's why I suggested a good book!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk