Just a quick one to show you what things are looking like one month after taking cuttings from all the fruit & nut trees in this region, process described in this post.
Here we have fig cuttings in soil, some in bottles, some in cling film and as you can see they are looking super healthy. I cannot confirm it but something tells me these little babies are already growing roots.
This is what they looked like at the base one month ago, just before I pushed them into the soil with their aloe vera root hormone.
The figs have been the fastest of all the trees to produce new growth and look as if they don't actually need the bottles any more.
In here I have two peach and an apricot. (colour coded pots!)
Initially I had them all in clingfilm but my feeling is that the bottles are better, so have been slowly collecting bottles and creating multiple mini greenhouses. We had snow this week so keeping the underdeveloped ones warm & insulated is still very important.
Here we have another variety of fig, also now pushing its way through the top of the clingfilm, making me wonder if I shouldn't just remove it?
These pots are all over the courtyard at the moment but mostly in the greenhouse.
Let's have a look in here. You can see how this peach on the left is pushing new growth out from the bottom (probably thanks to the overall humidity inside the greenhouse).
Again, this makes me wonder if I shouldn't just remove the clingfilm already? Do any of my readers have experience with this?
Here we have Reine Claude plums on the left and elderflower in the pink bucket. One of them looks a bit dead but the others are doing fine.
A red variety of hazelnut.
And a cherry!
In short, every variety I took (which includes peach, plum, apricot, apple, almond, nectarine, cherry, elderflower, hazelnut, fig, walnut & persimmons) are all showing signs of life after just one month. Which is great!
Their siblings on the other hand, which were placed directly in water and kept inside our home, are all looking pretty sad. They haven't grown at all and most of the green bits feel crispy and dead.
I will keep them in there another month or two, just to to be sure. It was an apple producer who informed me apples can be cloned in this way, so let's see. Perhaps the apple cuttings will suddenly sprout to life next week...
Fig grafts
One month ago I grafted a desirable variety of fig onto an existing fig tree in my courtyard, process described in this post.
Looking at it yesterday I noticed some green growth in there.
I know patience is the name of the game here, but I couldn't help myself and excitedly removed the outer layer of cling film to have a little look.
For those of you who missed the fig grating post, the new fig branch has been connected to our tree like this.
I am certain that when I attached it there was no green growth coming out of the top, so seeing this little crack of green here is a very encouraging sign!
Can't really say for sure yet but it seems to me this graft has been successful and the upper section of this tree will have a different coloured fig to the lower section.
Bud grafts
One month ago I added ten bud grafts to a small plum tree in the garden, process described in this post. As a prunus tree it is capable of hosting all varieties of plum, cherry, peach, apricot, nectarine & almond.
Since making these bud grafts I have added an extra layer of clingfilm over the top, like I did for the figs. I did this because some of them had leaves which were wilting and I felt like they needed the extra humidity. For now I cannot see any signs of growth under the clingfilm, but as soon as there is something to photograph, you can be sure I will!
So that's it. Just a quick one like I said ;)
Here is the amazing banana flower in our courtyard still going strong. I am wondering when it gets warmer if it might start making bananas again?
Each banana begins as a tiny flower (attracting all kinds of wonderful insects) and matures into fruit if the conditions are right.
Which soon they will be!
Love & Light everyone π±
Fascinated by the aloe vera wrapping for the cuttings.... we have LOTS of aloe vera and seems like a really clever idea. Nice!
Just to be clear, it didn't go into the soil with the aloe vera plant around it. Rather, I made sure the aloe juice was all over bottom of the sticks (by wrapping it momentarily and giving it a good rub) before pushing them into pre-prepared holes, as not to rub the juice off too much on their way in. And prior to this I scratched a little of the bark off each stick at the bottom. Apparently this helps too!
EPIC!! Loving this man! I was recently looking at grafting and for the first time Im starting to grow trees! Pretty much secured 264 hectares mate for a project hahhah, we need trees!
I didnt see the banana photo, maybe its my internet.. im so close to going when its not hot to get a baby banana tree and pot it!
Dude! I saw your other comment yesterday and almost managed to get to it ;)
Great to see you man. How is Mexico treating you?
Based on that post I saw looks like you are busy growing stuff in the crazy hot sun. Which I can imagine brings some challenges! Crazy cold is our current problem. The snow killed a few things the other day after a month of lovely spring weather. Grand solar minimum style ;)
Funny you should mention digging up bananas, we just started digging up one of our (3rd generation) bananas yesterday. Now that we've dug the hole, today we will use a saw to remove it. Look for ones which are growing a decent distance from the mother. If they are too close they are more difficult to remove and don't always have great roots. As least that's how it is here in France!
You're really good at this! I'm so happy with your success. I want to try this, but there's so much else to do right now, no end in sight. Good luck! (I have no real idea about the plastic wrap, but from here, I feel I can hear the plants asking to be freed.)
My mother used to say I had green fingers and I didn't fully understand what that meant till these last few years. Plants & animals seem comfortable around me. And I am attentive to their needs. Many thanks for sharing your feeling around the clingfilm! I will enjoy removing it all today ;)
I'm about to craft one of our weak fig tree onto a more vivid one, but unlike cuttings and air layering, I never managed to successfully craft a tree. That v-shape cut seems to be a smart idea. Gotta give it a try.
I looked at many different techniques for the fig graft and as you say, this v shaped cut seems a decent system. I even went and bought a special grafting knife just to make the cut nice and clean. Don't forget to take the moon cycle into consideration when choosing the correct moment to make your graft. Unknown to most this is a very important factor: https://peakd.com/hive-140635/@samstonehill/bud-grafting-with-the-new-moon-to-create-a-multi-variety-fruit-and-nut-tree
Have never tried air layering, but you can be sure I will be trying it this year...
Best of luck with everything!
This is the first time that I have seen an aloe vera used in inducing rooting or as a rooting hormone, I am definitely going to try it out. And, I should have seen this blog of yours before shoving my Texas Sage into the soil.
This or natural honey will work as an alternative root hormone.
Let me know how it goes for you in the future!
And enjoy the growing :)
I will, thank you for the information. Have a nice day ahead.
By the way, should I water it immediately after putting it in the soil?
This is amazing and seeing those little life coming out is fascinating! I always thought about grafting some fruit trees to add to our citrus out the yard but didn't really do anything about it. I didn't know that aloe vera can act as root hormone. Thank you for sharing this, I learned some techniques :)
You can use natural honey in place of aloe (some say it is better) but we have a lot of aloe so it made sense this way.
Thanks for appreciating this moment with me and I am pleased you learned something.
Good luck with your citrus tree which in a few years could look like this!
Thank you for that additional tip :) I will try this out. I also have aloe vera so it would be an experiment for me too :)
Wow! Did you graft that citrus bonsai too?
Go with the flow I say. If one has an abundance of something, use it!
Nah, this is my first year trying grafting. I found that image online and used it in this post which explains some of the categories of tree that like being grafted together.
You are so right, thank you :)
Okay, I thought it was yours hehe. Will check that out :)
Thinking about it, there is one other interesting plant mix I have discovered since I wrote that post: Avocados will grow with mangos.
It's funny because I realised this when I saw a time-lapse of a mango plant growing from seed over a one year period. The vibe of the overall growth at the early stages was extremely similar to avocados (which I have been watching in real time for the last two years). So I looked it up and there it was! They are indeed from the same genus and can be grafted together :)
Luckily I have a bunch of small avocado trees in pots and I know a mango producer not too far away...
That is very interesting and certainly something to try! All the best on your grafting and may you succeed in them :)
I think they're ready, except those ones in water only...
Nice work man, especially with the grafting!
Thanks for the positive tip! When researching this project I saw many people saying three months is required before the roots are developed enough to dig them up and re-pot them. Some people even say to wait an entire year before moving them! So I will probably wait a while longer. Perhaps another month or two. But I think you are right and they probably don't need the clingfilm any more.
This is so very cool! I think am as delighted at your success as you are. :)) And a banana flower on top! What a happy post!
It's certainly good to know it works now! I anticipate a time when I will need to produce a whole bunch of trees to fit a whole bunch of land...
Woww! The first time I know the useful of aloe vera in growing tree. Thank you a lot!
No worries. It seems like it works pretty well. But you can also use natural honey if you have it. Have fun!
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