Re: Robinia cuttings
Richard Starkeson wrote:
>
> I had a very young Robinia purple robe or casque rouge in the parkway as
> a street tree until recently vandalized - sawn off at the base- (I live
> in Berkeley, where both plant vandals and thieves are unfortunately
> very common) and i was wondering -
> 1. what sort of tree is likely to sprout up from the base (looks like
> it was a grafted tree); 2. and it now being the beginning of autumn
> here, are cuttings from the recent growth (woody) likely to be rootable
> (or preservable in the fridge/freezer for grafting onto shoots next
> spring?)
>
> When replaced, i will fence it till it attains a bigger size and
> probably plant Urtica around the base - for the catterpillar's
> appetites, of course.
Robert
Many commiserations on losing you tree. It is hard to imagine what
satisfaction such vandalism gives the perpetrator. Pity you don't have
our NZ Urtica ferox to try as a companion. Nobody would come back if
they met up with that!!!
Robinia cultivars are apparently normally grafted on to R pseudo-acacia
(whip and tongue grafting is recommended). The only other vegetative
methods mentioned by my book (obviously only possible with plants on
their own roots) are to use suckers or root cuttings. I guess this
implies stem cuttings are unlikely to succeed. I suppose you could try
re-grafting some of the surviving shoots on to the stock, but I guess it
would be also worth letting the latter shoot, if it will, and seeing
whether a morsel of the scion is still there.
Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata,
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
