North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["rmelrose@danvilleVT.net" <rmelrose@danvilleVT.net>]

Thanks Lee, so etiolation it is. I see the idea is to treat these as softwood 
cuttings, 
rather than hardwood as I was planning to do (meaning in particular they are 
supposed to 
grow out the same year). Maybe I missed the point a little and the roots grow 
from the NEW 
etiolated section -- I was thinking that the old wood was effectively 
`rejuvenated' and that 
is what rooted. Not that it really matters except it may be important that 
the blanching 
tube extends initially beyond the tip -- as you say it should in your 
description.

As I say, I will give it a good try this year on quince and pear and report 
back.

Richard

>From Lee Reich

The "etiolated shoot method" is often successful even with very hard  
to root plants. Here's an description of the method, excerpted from  
the appendix of my book, Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden,

              The etiolated shoot method is a variation on softwood  
cuttings. This method has been successful in rooting stems of many  
plants otherwise difficult, previously impossible, to root (such as  
stems or shoots from mature apple trees.) In late winter, put an  
opaque tube---of roofing paper or aluminum foil, for example---around  
and extending a few inches beyond the terminal bud of a plant stem.  
This tube will exclude light from the shoot that grows from the  
terminal bud until that shoot appears at the end of the tube, at  
which time the shoot?s exposed leaves and stem will develop normally.  
A variation on this method is to completely shade a plant or stem  
before growth begins. When new, etiolated shoots are a few inches  
long, wrap each of their bases in some opaque material and gradually  
admit light to the plant or shoot. With either method, in late summer  
cut off the leafy shoots with their etiolated (bleached) basal  
portions and root them as you would any other softwood cutting. The  
etiolated shoot method is so successful because etiolated stems root  
so readily and because these etiolated stems, fed by their deep green  
parts developing later in light, are not starved for energy reserves.