Can I propagate holly by cuttings?

I have a number of holly trees (Ilex aquifolium) which I planted as little seedlings. They are now starting to get to flowering stage, but the vast majority have turned out to be male trees so don't bear berries. I have fond memories of collecting holly from the woods as a child to decorate the house for the christmas season, but somehow it isn't the same without the berries!

One tree this year has turned out to be a fairly prolific fruiting female:

Beautiful red berries!

Anyone know how best to propagate this tree? Can I take a hardwood cutting and root it like a currant bush, or is it likely to be more tricky? What tine of year is best? You can buy named holly varieties; do they propagate by grafting or by cuttings?

Now I know this is a good tree I want more the same!

Thanks for your help!

Gardners World says, "you can take semi-ripe cuttings in August and September when you carry out your formative pruning; or take hardwood cuttings in winter."

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-holly/

I tried taking a load of cuttings in autumn last year but none of them took. I plunged them into the end of one of our vegetable beds and by the spring they had all succumbed to the frost. I would suggest trying to keep them somewhere sheltered and hopefully you'll have a better result.

I have propagated holly before.  I imagine you could take cuttings any time, and as long as you kept them wind and frost protected (the cold is okay, but the frost heave is not), as well as watered but not waterlogged, they'd probably do fine (you might want to give them a year to take, just to give them time to create a decent size root system).  What I've done in the past, using white milk jugs as mini-greenhouses (cut in half on 3 sides to make a hinge-top, then drainage holes in the bottom; tie closed with the top INSIDE the bottom lip for sprinkler-watering purposes, and leave the top vent open) was fill the bottom with a sandy loam mix, 2-3 inch cuttings spaced maybe 1 inch apart (rooting hormone is good, but not required), and leave the little jug out inside the sprinkler zone through all seasons.  If these cuttings were taken early enough in the growing season to have some roots before winter, they'd be fine.  But ones taken in, say, August or later - probably were (or would have been) lost to frost heave.  If you've got an unheated indoor space that still has sufficient light to grow by (for an evergreen), perhaps cuttings taken even now would take just fine, eventually.  Just don't forget to water!  (That's my biggest struggle with cuttings indoors.)

Nancy. it sounds as if you have found yet another project that needs a high tunnel!  There are a number of Holly trees on the undeveloped land behind my house, I may have to try taking some cutting to overwinter in the basement.

I have what may be perhaps a silly question for you.  As you live in kinda, sorta the correct country, have you seen an Ent walking about in your "field of trees"??

Peace

OK, one holly cutting in the basement window sharing space with a begonia that blooms there every winter, so I hope the light will be enough.  In my short walk about in the woods this afternoon I found a way to cheat, I located several small (less than 12 inches tall) holly seedlings that I hope I will be able to lift without any root damage.
I'll keep you guys posted.

Peace

That's great information Marinda - I don't usually get much frost here - one of the benefits of being so close to the sea. Wind is more likely to be a problem for me. I've actually taken a few cuttings this week, since Autumn, as AC suggested, is supposed to be a good season to take evergreen cuttings in the UK. I took tips about 4 inch in length, pulled off the leaves leaving just three or so at the tio and pushed them into the soil on one of my new minihugel. They will get plenty of water over the next 6 months - not much warmth though :P!
While I was at it, I took some cuttings of some of my Elaeagnus shrubs as well. They'll either take or not, so nothing lost really.

Deane - no Ents yet (other than yours truly doing an imitation) I think the area is probably not large enough to support a good population yet :).

If the cuttings I took this year don't take, I can try in the tunnel another year - they would be warmer and more sheltered, but watering will be less certain. I've had good success planting seedlings my sister posted up to me, so that is a good way of propagating holly - but of course you don't know what sex flowers you are going to end up with, and I really want more berries. Only about three of my bushes appear to be female so far, and one have leaves with virtually no prickles, which doesn't seem 'right' either.

Nancy Reading wrote:, and one have leaves with virtually no prickles, which doesn't seem 'right' either.

Apparently they only produce the prickles if the deer have eaten their leaves!

I've really enjoyed your tree planting journey!

I'm trying to create new trees from old trees too but it's a big learning curve!

Timothy Walker wrote:

Nancy Reading wrote:, and one have leaves with virtually no prickles, which doesn't seem 'right' either.

Apparently they only produce the prickles if the deer have eaten their leaves!

Hi Timothy - welcome to permies!
I've heard that too, but my tree field is fenced - so no deer or sheep browsing and most of the hollies are quite satisfactorarily prickly! This one is just smooth with a few prickles. I think it is just a bit of natural variation in this case. I know there are cultivars with extra prickles, this one has fewer

I've really enjoyed your tree planting journey!

I'm trying to create new trees from old trees too but it's a big learning curve!

Thank you Timothy - it's good to learn from each other. Are you taking cuttings too? I haven't done much of that with trees - I find seedlings are easier unless, like with this holly, I want a particular characteristic.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Thank you Timothy - it's good to learn from each other. Are you taking cuttings too? I haven't done much of that with trees - I find seedlings are easier unless, like with this holly, I want a particular characteristic.

I haven't yet! Hoping to this autumn/winter.
I'm more interested in hazel cuttings mainly, as I want to remove the Sitka areas and plant them with hazel copse areas!

But one area I've found is absolutely riddled with honey fungus, something that wasn't apparent at the time of viewing the property! So that has given me another big challenge to try and get around!

I've just seen your woodland thread good luck - hopefully someone will come back with some good suggestions on the honey fungus issue. There's always something isn't there? Diversity would be my first suggestion, but I'll do a bit of reading round and come back to it later.
As regards hazels - I think you will be better off with seedlings rather than cuttings. If you want genetically identical plants (an especially good nutter or a honey fungus resistant one (!) ) then layering or stooling is supposed to be the way to go. See this thread on propagation or maybe this one on hazels. I see from your profile you are based in Wakes so bear in mind, as permies is a mainly US site, not all of the information will be relevant to the UK.

Hi Nancy,

The video below gives some tips on how to take hardwood cuttings. I haven't tried it yet, but he had about a 50% success rate. Seems like taking hardwood cutting from the female (and maybe a few from the males) would be your best bet, but you might also try starting them from seed.

https://nativetreesfromseed.com/grow/tree-recipes/holly

Unfortunately the cuttings fell victim to a mouse hunt by my labrador retriever, so no hollys rooting this year I fear!