To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] rooting softwood mulberry
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:22:14 -0500
At 02:28 PM 7/6/2006, Donna wrote:
I'm surprised
that no one has jumped in with the answer to your question. Lucky
must be out of town.
Yeah, I was.
Bass,
I've had better success with M.rubra as summer-collected(seems like I did
'em in July) semi-hardwood cuttings than as dormant-collected
cuttings. M.alba & the M.a.XM.r. hybrids would probably
work as well or better than M.rubra.
Pencil-diameter cuttings of current-year's growth have worked fairly well
for me, 8-10 inches in length - I'll leave 2 or 3 leaves attached, but
cut about half the leaf off (just a transverse cut, halfway up the leaf)
to diminish transpiration losses. Wound and dip the basal end in
your choice of rooting hormone and stick in a soilless potting mix.
I water daily, and keep the cuttings in a shady spot - no direct
sun.
I've tented some by placing a plastic bag over the pot the cuttings were
in, and left others 'untented', and really didn't see much
difference.