Easiest way to propagate junipers?

My guess is that you take cuttings (when? how long?), dip in rooting powder, and put in a sandy coldframe in the shade in which they stay all winter and until they show healthy new growth. Does anyone know if this would work?
Sharon

Take juniper cuttings in late fall or early winter. Some root, others don't. Can't tell you much more -- just bumping you back up the page until our coniferites see this.

Guy S.

You can take turgid (semi-hardwood - water the plant heavily the night before and take cuttings early in the morning) cuttings in June and July. Professional growers I know of use straight perlite and have them on a mister that's programmed for every fifteen minutes. They also use bottom heat @ 70 degrees F. At home, you can still take the cuttings (June-August 1) without a mist system and can grow them in a humid greenhouse not reaching over 80 degrees, or indoors under fluorescent lighting using a potting media of 50/50 perlite/peat, a rooting hormone such as 'Hormex #8' or 'Dip and Grow' and if you choose not to use a greenhouse (I can't keep mine under 80 for example) - place the cuttings in a bagged flat, container, etc. using a white trash bag or clear trash type of a bag...whatever, and keep them bagged for one month periodically letting the air out and replenishing with new; then, after a month remove the bag all together and mist them several times a day (4-5 times) - USE BOTTOM HEAT - and don't keep the soil moist all the time. That too is another factor that helps these root. You'll want the soil to dry up between waterings or not remain constantly moist. Drier but not bone dry is perfect for Junipers.

That's for summer.

For winter, follow the same instructions and take either semi-hardwood or hardwood cuttings (removing needles at the base of the cutting is all that is need to 'scar' the cutting before it is dipped in a rooting hormone) in December usually. January-late February is fine as well.

You can use these instructions for Hemlock, Arborvitae, Metasequoia, Chamaecyparis pisifera, Hinoki Cypress, some Picea's such as all the Picea glauca 'Conica' cultivars (photo), etc.

Remove the bottom 1/3 of the needles on the cutting, dip, cover, and wait, wait, wait. You'll love working with Junipers - LOL! They hurt.

If you don't have bottom heat, that's ok. You'll still get many to root.
It's just such a great asset for growing it all, you know..

Also, initially spraying the cuttings and top of soil with a fungicide labled for such is a real good idea. And be sure to remove any cuttings that show disease immediately. Cuttings also that become droopy in appearance, they need more mist...

Then this is a Picea glauca 'Conica' cultivar for example of which all these can be produced and are produced professionally by cuttings. I forget what else, but there are a few other Picea's that root as cuttings. Platycladus orientalis too can be rooted, but I get extremely poor results from some reason. Dirr - does say they are difficult (to root) :) Take Care, Dax

Picea glauca 'Arneson's Blue Variegated'

Thank you for the very detailed directions! So you are growing yours indoors, even in the winter? Do you think you could start dwarf alberta spruce the same way?

I know you can.

Your welcome.

Regards,

Dax

It becomes interesting. Plants start looking like investments instead of beauty!

And the personal satisfaction, is there. And in every way.

Have a nice day.

Dax

Hey Dax, do you have a clematis you recomend for trailng down a large pot (not a blue flower color since the pot is kinda a blue glaze)? Sorry to steal the thread.

And of course you have a desire to know what everthing around you is and a desire of the realization that you know it's propagatable. And you know how to propagate it because it follows a general condition that is met with other woody plants.

Obviously I like gardens of deciduous material and conifers.

I guess the world just is beautiful.

Hi Will,

Clematis as a groundcover, excellent!

Spilling over a retaining wall. Climbing down a hill. Trailing from a pot.

A recommendation for a blue pot clematis to trail from:

Sure...

'Rhapsody'

Take care,

see ya,

Dax

I gotta get a life!

lol.

see ya,

Dax

Juniperus scopulorum is difficult to root:)

You know how grafting works, and you're set. All you need is seed and/or seedlings to graft onto. That's worst case scenario. But if you know how to do this, you can't go wrong as a hobbyist, which is all I am.

And a gardener of course.

This time I am going to take a break and get to working on the photos and information I'm uploading to the American Conifer Society Database. Plus I enjoy working in the yard...

See you guys around:)

Just a few comments for lurkers- Most people don't have a professional mister however the relative humidity can be brought up around cuttings by placing a tray within a tray that has pebbles and water in it and additionally, I've had success sticking pencils around some trays and wrapping them with regular old Reynolds wrap and using a $1 spray bottle from time to time.

As far as soil temps at 70F, most of the plants I play with need soil temps of 80F. This sounds like it is impossible but it really isn't. I have heating coils now with thermostats as well as germination mats that I use these days but I still use regular old heating pads- the kind that don't automatically shut off after an hour or two and a few of mine were picked up at garage sales for $2 a piece. They are still out there for sale at stores like K-Mart and maybe even Walgreens if you read the packaging carefully. I buy a floating fish tank thermometer from WalMart for all of like .86 cents and I stick it in the soil. I check where the temps are at on medium and add a layer of dish towels under the trays and keep adding until I achieve the desired medium temps. Once I get the medium temps I need, then I go from there. You don't need a lot of expensive equipment to experiment. If you fail, big deal because you can always try again or like some people like me... again and again and again. If you keep trying, sooner or later you will have more successes than failures and you get to learn a lot along the way.

Hey willis_mckenna, what about good old cheap Bacopa to trail down the side of a pot? I think I may have some Clematis out there somewhere that will work for you that aren't blue if you want a cutting.

Back outside for me too so I can get some Clethera alnifolia in the ground.

Would I be able to overwinter a clematis in a pot either in the garage with my Japanese Maples, or in my unheated portion of my basement under lights with my cacti? I am guessing garage with the maples with kinda the same treatment.

Equil, thanks for that Bacopa idea. We had that in a hanging basket by our front steps last year and I couldn't remember for the life of me what type of plant it was since it flowered well there even in pretty much shade.

Well, so much for getting more plants in the ground! It started raining.

Hey willis_mckenna, If you can overwinter Japanese Maples in your garage, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to overwinter a patio pot of Clematis. Cut back on the water and keep it damp not moist and sprinkle a little sulfur and see if that doesn't work. In front of a window in your garage would be best. The basement scares me. Too many air born pathogens. You might want to consider setting up an oscillating fan in the area but the lights are most assuredly a help. Do you have any idea where I could buy a Shantung Maple (the 'orrible white blotchy leaved thing that resin despises) since you are into Japanese Maples?

You know one of the things I like about starting conifers from cuttings? You get miniature plants for a miniature garden! And then when they get too big, just move them out into the big wide world....

I like the heating pad idea. And when you're done with one crop of rootlings, you can use it for your aching back or whatever...Why have 2 gadgets when one will do.

if you were to have a sprayer bottle rigged up inside your propagation tent it would be simple to just mist everytime you walk by.

I'll be sure to let you know if I have any luck rooting these.
Sharon

This message was edited Jun 14, 2006 5:53 PM

You should do just fine. I'll wait for photos of new babies!

EQ:

Oh Gawd, VV, how could I have missed that and let you beat me to the punch? That's rich! I can just see the rust falling out of her left ear as she tried to engage her blonde female brain to think of a comeback!
Hee-hee-hee!

Guy S.

...hope springs eternal...

Now now, don't get all jealous. I don't do conifers yet but I'm going to try my hand at a few. I propagate native carnivorous plants and did a couple hundred this year. They require 80F soil temps and 80% humidity for both cuttings and seed germination. Slightly higher than the 70F soil temps Dax recommended for conifer cuttings but regulating the medium temps would be the same process which is trial and elimination with varying heat settings on the heating pad. I hate to admit this but I've moved on to 5 grow chambers, seed mats, heating coils, and I ordered a RainForest 318 complete with a center mister and I also like this propagation so much I just got a 14 x 25' greenhouse with all all the goodies so I can kill plants to my heart's content experimenting BUT, there is nothing wrong with increasing the relative humidity around cuttings by sticking pencils or chops sticks or anything else in the corners of the trays and wrapping Reynolds wrap around them and the person who taught me that trick was.... drum roll please... the one, the only... DAX! .

So, don't be discouraging caitlinsgarden by letting her think that she needs a gazillion dollars worth of products to try her hand at propagation because it just ain't so gentlemen. Eat your hearts out boys... I got Drosera binata 'Extrema' to root in RO/DI water! If I can do that in the equivalent of a heated jumbo petri dish, she can root her conifer cuttings on a heating pad nestled in a pebble tray. Do not intimidate her into thinking that propagation has to be complicated or she won't try it.

I am slipping, must be that rust falling out of my ear. Thank you fellow X chromosomes for pointing out the obvious to me-

ok. my big break is over.. and I never even got to the database:)

I just know other conifer hobbyist's and I know at least one professional who also takes (some) cuttings anytime now till August as well. Here, I might take a few, but the majority are taken while I'm grafting when the wood has been dormant for at least one month (or more - doesn't make any difference) and that's really the nuts and bolts of it all.

I have much better success with hardwood heel's than semi-hardwood and that's for winter I'm talking about.

Equil's right, it can definitely be extremely cheap to do this and besides whether you pay full price for a heat mat (they're the best in my opinion) or not; plus with a few dollars invested in fluorescent lighting - well, you can really do some good damage in relation to numbers if you "really" wanted to!

Now where do I go. Maybe the Vines Forum..

Have a nice day ladies and germs,

Dax

You know something caitlinsgarden, I don't know if you ever go over to the Garden Art Forum but I was thinking about you starting your cuttings when you mentioned that you would like getting miniature plants for a miniature garden and this thread came to mind-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/605856/

I keep looking at what that member created in a little box of all things and it really is beautiful to me.

I've never done conifer cuttings before myself but I was planning on doing so and actually ordered the Hormex #8 to have on hand. Here's the source I was given to order it from-
http://www.obcnw.com/b2b/shop.php?prod_action=showdetail&prod_id=1841

I'll try to look up where I bought my heat mats from in case you want to go that route when trying to root your cuttings. That may take a while but I found a really great price and ordered a few and the receipt should be around here somewhere.

OK, here's where I bought my heat mats from-
http://www.discount-hydro.com/
I didn't order on line though. I called their 800 number.

I can't remember where I bought my heat coils from but it was a place that Terry #1 recommended a few years ago. Terry the administrator not terryr. She found some place that sold these coils in practical lengths and they were affordable so I bought them from her place. It's been too long for me to be able to find the receipt. Sorry about that.

Say caitlinsgarden, please let me know when you want to try this and I will go for it with you and we can share photos of successes or failures. I've got some Thuja occidentalis out there that I'd like to try rooting and my plants are big enough this year to be able to get cuttings from them. I also have some Juniperus horizontalis out there that I wouldn't mind trying to root cuttings of too and I'm sure I can find other conifers that I could play with.

Equil, try ForestFarm http://www.forestfarm.com/search/closeup.asp?PlantID=acmo041.

Mendocino Maples shows it in their tree list but I couldn't find it in their catalog, maybe give them a call. http://www.mendocinomaples.com/index.php

Arbor Village has them "This plant continues to impress us with its vigor and foliage markings. Fully hardy and vigorous. 8x5’ in 5 years. 1 Gal. 2-3’ 25.00, 3-4’ 30.00"
http://arborvillagellc.com/

Bill

Equil, the basement part is very cold and dry for the cacti. So far no pathogens there (they are very dry going into the basement and there is a good draft from under the stairs). I think I posted this pic before, but here was my setup a few years ago. Probably too dry for a clematis since they would need a deeper watering before dormancy and during the warmer spells in winter.

Oh my! You certainly do have a nice set up. Maybe that area would work but I question whether the temps down there would be cool enough to provide an appropriate dormancy wherein which I believe the garage temps certainly would.

Thank you for the links. I already called Arbor Village and left a message that I wanted to order the Shantung Maple in the largest size they have. Thank you! I know exactly where I want to put it so that me and the tree can bond for the next 40 years.

Temps down there only get about 40 deg or so at the coldest. Not cold enough for the Clematis. Surprisingly, not too cold for that staghorn fern though.

I just don't know if that is cold enough. Maybe it is.

I mean that the Clematis would be better in the garage since the basement doesn't get cold enough.

Clematis I have never overwintered any where other than outside in the ground. I have about 6 different cultivars and they all seem to come back for me year after year. I wonder if you could just dig a hole the size of your patio pot and stick the whole think in the ground. I've done that with carnivorous plants and it worked. I did stick polar fleece over the top but that was mainly to reduce the effects of the freeze thaw cycles. Temperate species carnivorous plants are very shallow rooted and they will heave if a decent layer of pine needle mulch isn't provided.

I would do that, but the pot is about 3 1/2 ft tall. I don't want to dig that deep of a hole to bury the pot and it is to high to pile stuff around. Maybe I can put it in the compost pile for the winter, pot and all. I think the garage would still be the safest place since I keep an eye on my maples, what is one more pot. The compost pile is in the back corner of the yard and I don't use that much in the dead of winter.

Sounds like a plan. Compost should create heat which may or may not be a good thing. I've never tried it but then my compost heap is pretty small. May the force be with you- sounds kind of scary to me but then my pile is only about 3 x 3 x 3.

SUCCESS, your Arbor Village called me back and they had larger Shantung Maples in stock that weren't listed in their inventory. I also picked up another Carolina Silverbell and I picked up another Sassafras. I placed myself on back order with him for another Franklinia for next year. I have one now that was a gift from VV but I'm afraid it's lonely and needs a buddy so I have been wanting to get another one but they are hard to find. Actually, I'd like to have a total of 3 Franklinia. I am very excited at the prospect of getting my " 'orrible white blotchy leaved" Japanese Maple.

Somebody, and it ain't Equil, has got rust falling from their left ear. My oh my.....I'm not planning on rooting anything anytime soon, but when I do, what ever the heck it is, I sure won't ask Guy. Somebody has ousted the resident expert. I LOVE it!!

Hey Equil, I had the most beeee uuuu teee ful Franklinia when we lived in TN. My dream is to have one here.

The Franklinia needs a protected site. Better get a hold of VV to find out where best to plant that. He picked the location for mine and it's holding strong. Something about radiant heat on the east side of my home. I don't recall how he ultimately decided where it was best planted but the tree is not hardy in our zone so you are going to have to get help choosing a location for it or you can just put wings of $$$ on it and watch it go to plant heaven. That Carolina Silverbell isn't exactly the hardiest up this way either. Why mine is growing is beyond me because by all rights, it should have bit the dust a while ago.

Maybe VV can bring me one of those too.......along with the sambucus and the bottlebrush buckeye........I'm starting to turn blue, holding my breath and all........

That, you''ll have to take up with him. I know I am going to send him some money to go to some of his private stock sources to do some shopping for me next spring. Didn't you get a huge Sambucus from Kevin? I don't have any Aesculus parviflora here but I have something else for you that you will like.

Yes, I did get a sambucus from Kevin. But only because VV never delivered. I want some for out at my dad's place. (I know, I know) And besides, it fun to give VV a hard time. Agree?

There are times that I like to give everyone a hard time. Today, I'm too tired. I've been running in and out again all day and I've been picking one tick off of me after the next. Sheesh those things are virtually indestructable. Now, it's time for me to eat and I'm on a high because I was able to order that Shantung maple.