In article ,
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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?

Here, on Tyneside, the catkins are finished but the leaves haven't
come out yet, so I have some choice of timing.


Michael Bell


You probably need to graft onto some unwanted seedling rootstocks but you
will need a decent book and the right equipment before you start, and
remember nurserymen do not do things unless they are essential so if it
says to do it at a particular time of year you will have to be patient
there will be a reason.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea