I am compiling a list of plants that I can root cut.  I finished planting a bunch of willows last week.  I think Willow is pretty amazing but I have a feeling not everything is going to be quite so easy.  

Please, feel free to add to the list!

Keep in mind you will have more success propagating if you cut the right wood at the right time.  Dormant/ Not Dormant and Hardwood/Softwood.  With fruit like apples be aware that a cutting will not have the same rootstock as the mother plant so the cutting is not really a clone.

Rooting hormone is suggested for some propagation.  If you have willow you can use that as a rooting hormone.  I think Willow must be from another planet it is seriously vigorous.  It’s like the comfrey of deciduous trees.  The following list is not exhaustive, not even close.

Almond
Apple (you may want to graft)
Apricot
Basswood
Birch
Blackberries
Black Currant
boxwood
Blueberry
Citrus
Crabapple
Elderberry
Elm
Fig
forsythia
Goji Berry
Gooseberry
Goumi
Honey Locust
Honey Suckle
Jostaberry
Maple
Mulberry
Pear
Quince
Raspberry
Red Currant
Roses
Russian Olive
Taxus
Willow (I just put the cuttings in a bucket of water September and October and planted after three weeks in a bucket)  The cuttings pushed roots and leaves…keep them in a shady area.)

forsythia
taxus
boxwood
work well

apple, maple, and blueberry havent worked for me without hormones or bottom heating. Arent marigolds annual? and saint johnswort maybe by root division? its pretty soft stemmed.

i think you might have a few more options and sucess layering a plant than producing a root from a cutting. (I have cooler summer temps it would be a reason why they fail) I haven´t heard of maple cuttings taking root ever, but maybe because they are common trees that grow fast so no one tried. my japenese maple will not root anyway, I tried heaps. you can buy organic root hormones that help and are safe, but I have had no luck with willow water, it seems to just go foul. Asprin helps some as well maybe because its more concentrated and also sterile and has nothing edible for bacteria in it.

Josta berry and gooseberry
Almond so I have been told

Arent marigolds annual? and saint johnswort maybe by root division? its pretty soft stemmed.

I looked up the Marigold and though there are perennial varieties they wouldn't be in my zone, probably not a good fit for the list.    

Regarding St. Johnswort there are different kinds, some types are herbaceous and some are woody. I know this because you made me look it up  I took it off the list because I think most would think of it as a herbaceous medicinal.

Quince

David

David Livingston wrote:Quince

David

Thanks ,it's on the list now.

Goumi and elderberry

For those in warmer climates - passion fruits, moringa, tree collards, sweet potato, cassava...

Very nice - my kind of thread.
Basil. Mint, Rosemary, Citrus, Bougainvillea, Succulents, Gardenia, Ixora coccinea (West Indian Jasmine).
I had some success with all - herbs are easy, the rest are touch and go but we all get lucky now and then.

Surprisingly a lot of folks don't know that tomatoes root easily!  One year I lost almost my entire crop of 500 plants to a late freeze, but I had a few plants left in a cold frame.  I let these grow, cut off all the "suckers" and tips for cuttings, and had almost my entire planting back, it was just two or three weeks later to produce!

Alder Burns wrote:Surprisingly a lot of folks don't know that tomatoes root easily!  One year I lost almost my entire crop of 500 plants to a late freeze, but I had a few plants left in a cold frame.  I let these grow, cut off all the "suckers" and tips for cuttings, and had almost my entire planting back, it was just two or three weeks later to produce!

I've managed to get 4 or 5 tomato cuttings to root but got hit by white fly infestation. Out of more than 20 tomato plants last September-November 2017, only three managed to fruit. Really small too, as though they were cherry tomatoes when they were the regular grocery variety.

I've read that cuttings were as 'old' as the mother plant - in your experience do they fruit sooner?

I don't recall whether the tomato cuttings flowered as if they were still on the plant, rahter it seemed that they acted like seedlings the same size.  Maybe if I had been able to disregard the time it took for them to root and then get established after planting out it would have been different.  Also most of them were from the "suckers"...the small sprouts that form where the leaves meet the main stem and I think these often flower later than the main stem anyway.

Here are some plants to add to the list. These can all be just stuck in the ground though some are more successful than others. I have grown all of these using this method.

Black Cottonwood
Snowberry
Seaberry
Red Osier Dogwood
Pacific ninebark
Salmonberry
Red flowering currant
Spirea (Hardhack)

I'm currently testing growing beaked hazelnuts from cuttings just stuck in the ground (livestakes). I soaked them in a willow water mix first and then stuck them in the ground in small bunches of several cuttings. That was done several months ago and so far the cuttings are still alive but I don't know if they have rooted yet. I'm waiting till summer to see how they grow before saying if it worked or not. Tried it last year without success but I did not use a willow water mix and I got them in the ground late in spring.

Some others that can be grown from hardwood cuttings. All of these are native plants found in Western WA.

Western Yew
Hairy manzanita
Snowbrush
Oceanspray
Orange honeysuckle
Black twinberry
Osoberry
Mock Orange
Pacific rhododendron
Roses (at least the native ones in Western WA)
Thimbleberry
Blue elderberry
Red elderberry
Evergreen huckleberry

Great list!

Hi Daron, how did your hazelnut cuttings end up?
I've put about 60 in pots a few weeks ago.
Added water mixed with some soil from a big hazelnut closeby, hoping for some good kind of inoculation.
Willows are in the rainbarrel will start adding that water.

I'm doing hardy kiwi, highbush cranberry and aronia right now and all are pushing top growth.  I'm not sure what I'm doing so hopefully they root.  I have them in pots of 50/50 peat and perlite that were watered well and set on a 75 degree heat mat in a cool bedroom.  There's a west window nearby for some light.  I'm not sure if I should move them into more light or leave them be for a little longer.  The kiwis have small leaves on them already but the aronia are just breaking their buds.

Hi Mike, i’ve tried hardy kiwis a couple of years back. Put them in the ground outside in december and in februari/march all of them had leaves. Then it became hot and they all died. So from that i take that they’re easy to get leaves but hard to get roots. I’d be cautious moving them into sunlight. Maybe try a few when you feel couragious and when you see they’re going for it move more in.
Good luck.

grapevine

plums are super easy, almost as easy as fig...actually all Prunus species (peach, cherry, apricot others) can be  cloned with cuttings.

of the hundreds of blueberries i have tried i didnt get that many, but it can be done =), just trickier.

have had way better luck with ground layering many perennial edibles... bushes and canes in particular...and definitely all the vines, like grape and passionflowers...thats the easiest way to do those - ground layering them.

According to this post, Chilean Guava can be propagated easily without rooting hormone.

another really simple tip that has helped me a lot is to do cuttings in low light/out of direct sunlight, or at least dappled shade.
once they take root they are ready for real light or sunlight, but while convincing them to root out it works way better for me putting them in dark spaces, with only some light, or a low level electric light...but given them lots of shade or darkness at first.

I'm currently testing growing beaked hazelnuts from cuttings just stuck in the ground (livestakes). I soaked them in a willow water mix first and then stuck them in the ground in small bunches of several cuttings. That was done several months ago and so far the cuttings are still alive but I don't know if they have rooted yet. I'm waiting till summer to see how they grow before saying if it worked or not. Tried it last year without success but I did not use a willow water mix and I got them in the ground late in spring.

Hello all, I wanted to give an update to my test. I'm afraid that none of my cuttings survived the summer. But I did have a number of them leaf out and even start growing but they did not develop enough roots to survive the extreme drought we had.

I'm still not convinced that they can't be grown this way since the soils I put them in were fairly poor. Since the experiment I have mulched the area heavily and just today I was out digging there and the soil has already improved a lot. When I did the live staking I had to pound in a metal post first to get a hole that I could put the cuttings into. But today I could dig fairly easily just using a shovel. It is amazing what mulching can do to improve the soil!

One day I will run this test again with a few changes but I wanted to update you all on the results of the test.

Daron Williams wrote:

I'm currently testing growing beaked hazelnuts from cuttings just stuck in the ground (livestakes). I soaked them in a willow water mix first and then stuck them in the ground in small bunches of several cuttings. That was done several months ago and so far the cuttings are still alive but I don't know if they have rooted yet. I'm waiting till summer to see how they grow before saying if it worked or not. Tried it last year without success but I did not use a willow water mix and I got them in the ground late in spring.

Hello all, I wanted to give an update to my test. I'm afraid that none of my cuttings survived the summer. But I did have a number of them leaf out and even start growing but they did not develop enough roots to survive the extreme drought we had.

I'm still not convinced that they can't be grown this way since the soils I put them in were fairly poor. Since the experiment I have mulched the area heavily and just today I was out digging there and the soil has already improved a lot. When I did the live staking I had to pound in a metal post first to get a hole that I could put the cuttings into. But today I could dig fairly easily just using a shovel. It is amazing what mulching can do to improve the soil!

One day I will run this test again with a few changes but I wanted to update you all on the results of the test.

 

I might suggest that you run a control when you do this experiment the next time.  Put your control samples in a nursery like environment.  They should root and grow nicely, and it proves that the plants you took the cuttings from were viable and the test conditions were simply too extreme for them to thrive.  Hopefully the next time that you do this even your test subjects will succeed.

Sincerely,

Ralph

Hi Ralph, i am running a test with hazel cuttings right now. I agree with running tests to see what works and what doesn't. The scientific approach so to say.

But it's not always possible, i wanted the hazelnut cuttings to be in the earth in december, but they grew 600 miles away.
So it is already fairly late, but i've put them in pots so i can keep them a bit longer out of scorching heat and because they are around the house i can keep my eye on them to see if they need water or if they have bugs and remove the ones that didn't make it and start to rot.
And by reporting back on here somebody else can take it and run with it.
Maybe someone will chime in and say something like, " I guess you guys are using this and this variety, i've planted this ancient variety i found on this settler farm of my great old uncle and it gives the best hazels and they're super easy to take cuttings from, and i'll send them to you if you pay postage because now it's growing all over my property.". Agreed that is probably just my super hopeful fantasy.

Maybe there should be a special forum for propagation experiments on Permies where you can say what you're experimenting with, how you did it, and how you failed/succeeded and with a short explanation of why. So that if you're going to do a shady cuttings experiment, you can have a look at the do and donts, and everybody can learn from each others mistakes.