Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Bell
I want to grow-on an alder which has traits which I want. I have found
that alder cuttings don't take, and I am looking for ideas. Apart from
trying again what didn't work last time, sticking a cutting in compost
with rooting compound, what can you suggest?
The possibilities I can think of a-
1) Use a mist propagator. They aren't magic, what tricks work? (My
nearest local garden shop, Peter Barretts, has become a general
giftware and household trinket store rather than a garden shop, and I
will have to look around for another supplier)
2) Air layering. Any suggestions as to technique?
3) Other possibilities?
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It is only the easiest of plants which take cuttings by the method you suggest. Failing to get cuttings to take by the method you try is a common experience. Many plants don't take from cuttings as easily as that, but if you know the right conditions they will take. That's why some of the plants we buy from nurseries are expensive - they only take from cuttings if you know the right technique.
For many plants we find it easiest to preserve desirable properties by grafting. That's a skilled task too.
Then finally there's micropropagation, which can work when the above two don't.
Alders are noted for their symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Franknia alni, which grows in root nodules and fixes nitrogen. Maybe you need somehow to ensure it is present in the soil to get rooting. There are also a range of fungi which grow only with alder, no doubt in mycorrhizal association. Some of that may help too.