Creating the Back Orchard-My Attempt at Propagating Fruit Trees from Cuttings (with updates)
I've been wanting to create a nice orchard in the back clearing. I figure it works for us in many ways; diversify the beauty of the woodlot, bear delicious treats, ability to move toward self-reliance (although in today's society may never truely happen), make cider, and attract deer from the nearby golf course around archery season. Ultimately, having pears, apples, pawpaw, hazelnut, and persimmon is the ultimate goal. What better way than starting with free?
I'll keep this simple, and mainly write as a note to self about how to propagate Pear/Apple trees from cuttings. After school, since it was a beautiful day and I did a little research, I decided to stop by a friends place and take some cuttings from his pear and apple trees, the ones I know bear good fruit.
The pear cuttings were about 16 inches long, apple about 6-8 inches long, trimmed at a 45 degree angle from fresh new growth. Now that the trees are coming out of dormancy, I figured it would be best. Other years I've tried around April and they usually fail. I read that late winter and early spring are best, so the transition between the two seemed appropriate.
After cutting, I placed them in a bucket with water until I made it home to complete my project. I removed the bottom 1/3 or less of the bark and removed some of the nodes leaving at least two on all cuttings. Then placed them back in water while I prepped the pots.
I then took the damp soil and made a hole with my middle finger. I put the exposed end in Rooting Hormone, tapping off excess, and placed in the prepared soil. I have read in many places if you don't have or don't want to buy rooting hormone, ground cinnamon does the trick as well. Luckily my neighbor had rooting hormone as I'm sure Connie would not have wanted me to use our spice rack for our garden supplies.
I tried two cuttings of my own winter pear, and four cuttings from Bartlett. I repeated the process until the cuttings were all in the containers, pressing the soil firmly so they stand on their own. (My mistake last year may have been not removing enough bark at bottom.
Even if only half of these take root, that will leave me 3 pear trees and 3 apple trees. The average price of pear tree around here =$15-30.
Average apple tree price around here = $13-25.
If all take root, that means I would have a start on my orchard and save myself $90-180 on Pear trees and $78-150 on Apple trees.
This also means that I would know how to do it again. And again. and again!
For all cuttings, I must mist water at least twice a day, making sure the soil is damp (not soggy) and that the cutting itself is covered like a good morning dew. I moved them into a work bench in the garage - as you can see there are other projects to be done too!- so they can be protected from wind, in an area that is warmer (I know it is supposed to be 60-75 degrees Farenheit, but that's best I can do), and out of direct sunlight but naturally lit. This also makes it easy to remember to water them before going to work in the morning.
If all goes well, I should see leaves sprout within a month. The pear trees will be ready to transplant by mid-late July and apple trees transplanted this time next year. I suppose they can winter in the basement.
As with fruit trees, though, it will be 3-4 years before my work truely comes to fruition. Anything great is worth a wait.
UPDATE: May 6, 2016.
I had to bring them to the basement for April as the temperatures fell again. Almost all seem well, many are doing great. I went during April and took a few more apple cuttings as well as trying a few blueberry cuttings (for the woodlot as well) to test whether it'll work.
The cuttings seem to be doing well. Great majority should make it if the I remain diligent and cognizant of the conditions. Also talked to the "Pawpaw Man" and plan on buying some of his germinated seeds and hoping for the best (which means live fruit-bearing trees) as well as buying a few American Hazelnut trees from a local TSC that had them on sale. More updates to come as I plant and prosper. Or as it falls apart and I fail.
