Propagation advice

Hello everyone!

So, I took these cuttings last fall and stuck most of them outside in a coarse sand bed. Some were in potting soil in pots outside. It looks like most of them are alive and getting ready to leaf out.

I’m wondering if I should plant them out soon, let them grow where they’re at for a full year and plant them next spring, or pot them individually and grow them for the year like that. We’re zone 4 and probably wont be free of frost until late May/early June if that makes a difference. Also, the plants pictured are grapes, blackberries, thimbleberries, golden raspberries, autumn olive, black elderberry, crabapple, chokeberry, highbush cranberry and some small shrubby type of willow.

Any advice is appreciated!

Brody Ekberg wrote:Hello everyone!

So, I took these cuttings last fall and stuck most of them outside in a coarse sand bed. Some were in potting soil in pots outside. It looks like most of them are alive and getting ready to leaf out.

I’m wondering if I should plant them out soon, let them grow where they’re at for a full year and plant them next spring, or pot them individually and grow them for the year like that. We’re zone 4 and probably wont be free of frost until late May/early June if that makes a difference. Also, the plants pictured are grapes, blackberries, thimbleberries, golden raspberries, autumn olive, black elderberry, crabapple, chokeberry, highbush cranberry and some small shrubby type of willow.

Any advice is appreciated!

Hard to say without plucking a few out to look at the roots. If the roots are plentiful, healthy, and vigorous then it’s also hard to say without seeing where they are going to be planted (but they should be good to go to any decent location with good soil). You could split the difference and plant half by thinning the sand bed and leave the rest to get another year of TLC. You could also give the ones that stay behind their own decent sized pot to make future transplanting less stressful. I’d say listen to the roots whenever propagating, growing roots is the main point.

Good Luck!

Hi Brody,
I'm a novice with this so take my opinion lightly. I think there's little downside to letting them grow right there for a year. Assuming that there is some rooting happening in the sand - those tender roots are delicate and I wouldn't want to mess with them. If on the other hand they aren't rooting and won't root then there's no point in preparing the planting site and planting them now.

My YouTube teachers on this subject are Mike's Back Yard Nursery (he grows cuttings in sand undisturbed for a season) and Edible Acres (he starts the rooting process in sand with bottom heat in winter, then in the spring plants them in rich soil nursery beds). I'm guessing the former has a higher success rate and the latter grows bigger plants. I usually choose the more passive option so my method is closer to Mike's.
Good luck!

Nick Neufeld wrote:Hi Brody,
I'm a novice with this so take my opinion lightly. I think there's little downside to letting them grow right there for a year. Assuming that there is some rooting happening in the sand - those tender roots are delicate and I wouldn't want to mess with them. If on the other hand they aren't rooting and won't root then there's no point in preparing the planting site and planting them now.

My YouTube teachers on this subject are Mike's Back Yard Nursery (he grows cuttings in sand undisturbed for a season) and Edible Acres (he starts the rooting process in sand with bottom heat in winter, then in the spring plants them in rich soil nursery beds). I'm guessing the former has a higher success rate and the latter grows bigger plants. I usually choose the more passive option so my method is closer to Mike's.
Good luck!

I’m also a novice, and have checked out some of Mikes Backyard Nursery as well! His content has been pretty helpful. I guess I’ll wait a bit and maybe check some roots to see how they’re developing before deciding what to do. I wasn’t sure if the coarse sand would hold enough nutrients to support growth for a full year or not. I also wasnt sure if I leave them if all the roots would grow into a tangled mess.

it won’t be too hard to tease apart roots. i’d wait at least until there’s decent top growth to check for roots.

Paul Eusey wrote:

Brody Ekberg wrote:

Hard to say without plucking a few out to look at the roots. If the roots are plentiful, healthy, and vigorous then it’s also hard to say without seeing where they are going to be planted (but they should be good to go to any decent location with good soil). You could split the difference and plant half by thinning the sand bed and leave the rest to get another year of TLC. You could also give the ones that stay behind their own decent sized pot to make future transplanting less stressful. I’d say listen to the roots whenever propagating, growing roots is the main point.

Good Luck!

I haven’t checked the roots yet. They’ve just started opening buds and that was the first sign of surviving winter that I’ve seen. I can check for root growth to take that into consideration. I dont have specific areas prepped for them to be planted in yet. I was waiting to see what survived before assuming I’ll have anything to plant! I was hoping to keep some and sell/trade others depending on how much is available.

I like the idea of thinning the bed and putting some in pots. Do you think the sand will hold enough nutrients to support growth for a full year for the ones left in the bed?

Brody Ekberg wrote:

I like the idea of thinning the bed and putting some in pots. Do you think the sand will hold enough nutrients to support growth for a full year for the ones left in the bed?

Most likely the answer is no to maybe. If the sand is good at keeping moisture (at the bottom), then a mild compost tea or diluted fertilizer and light mulch should get them through. But once you have roots, the best bet is to transplant them into pots or prepared beds. They will ultimately do better in good soil and grow better and stronger and be much more likely to survive/thrive.

Good Luck!