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Subject: Age of cuttings




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reply to:
From: Martin Voges <voges@drama.unp.ac.za>
To: seeds-list@eskimo.com
Cc: seeds-list@eskimo.com

A bit of an odd question:  How old is a cutting when it grows?  Eg., if I
cut a 2 year old twig from a 5 year old shrub, is the cutting 0 years (just
born), 2 years (the twig), or 5 years (the parent plant)?

The reason I ask, is that I grew a Gardenia thunbergia from a truncheon
taken off a mature bush, i.e. flowering maturity.  These gardenias don't
flower when they're young.  This cutting, small as it was, flowered
within a year or two, simultaneously ...  Regards, Martin


The principle that you are talking about is relative to the Cone of
Juvenality which is discussed in all books about propagation.

Lets say you have a plant which is ten years old since it was propagated
from seed
or a cutting. Every year the plant sets out new shoots. We ask, how old are
the 
various shoots. While all the new shoots have the same age of growth they are
physiologically different in 'real' age.

In terms of juvenality:
The cuttings taken from the top are really 'ten years old'
The cuttings taken from the base are really 'this years age'.

What can we say about the ability to propagate from these cuttings.
Say you have a fast growing ficus tree. When you take cutting from the
top of the tree they they *may* have less ability to root from cuttings then
the younger cuttings taken from the base.

How do we have control. One way is to *hedge* the plant ... cut it down to
near the
base then take cuttings from the  lowered plant.
Another way is to *stool* as they do with malus and prunus root stocks. The
plants are layed down and covered.  New shoots form along the trail of the 
older shoots under the ground.

In propagation of poinsetta and chrysamthem and pot roses the cuttings are
take from very young plants. The propagator takes cuttings from mother plant 
which are seldom older than half year. The mother plants are discarded after 
half a year and replaced with cuttings taken from the young plants.

One observed factor is that the more juvenile plants need more control of 
their environment yet produce roots faster and more evenly than the older
plants.

Many plants can not produce roots from cuttings from the upper parts of the
plants
since they are too old. In that case use the cuttings from the shoots taken
from
the base.

The general practice is to use as young a cutting as possible.

In the case that you site ... say you have a plant which flowers only after
a certain number of years. It you take cuttings fromt he upper portion of
the plant these cuttings are the same age as the mother plant therefore
they will produce flowers on the freshly propagated cutting.

regards
Joel






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