Cloning a fruit tree -

I have been trying to clone sprigs from a fruit tree. I am moving from the house here and I there are a few fruit trees that are off the hook! There is a kumquat and lemon tree that I would like to have copies of.

So far I have not had any success. Using a standard rooting compound that has never failed me. They are going into a nitrogen depleted (not starved, just depleted a bit) soil to promote rapid root growth. The soil is moist as I water it throughout and then let it dry for a day. Providing foliar watering at transplant time. They are coming indoors in a window sill where the temp stays at about 72-75 degrees.

The sprigs stay healthy for about a week and then the leaves curl and they die horrible deaths. Have tried 2 times with the lemon tree and 4 times with the kumquat.

I have cloned several of the rose bushes over the past three months without issue. Any tips for citrus?

maybe this will help...

http://www.citrolima.com.br/onlinclon/indexonlineprod.htm

Look up the cloning technique known as "air layering". This is the way to do it.

yer prolly not gonna have luck eith rooting hormone you will prolly need to graft or bud it to a new rootstock which isn't really that hard but is an advanced techniqe i find grafting easier... google is your frnd

roses are easy to root

My father use to clone and graft apple trees in the sappling stage, and used a root hormone called "rootone" I haven't seen it in at least 10 years, and I'm not even sure they sell it anymore. He always got good results.

Thanks everyone! FS, great info. There are some things to consider in the provided link. Warlord, Air Layering seems an intriguing technique tailored to what I am trying to do. TT, that is my thought after my current batch of failures. I am going to try air layering one of the branches for now.

Rootone! My mom used to have that around the house for her roses when I was a kid. Came in a small red container with a white cap and lettering? That is what my original cloning experience was based on a few decades ago. She might even have some in the shed, though it would have to be 25+ years old now.

Rootone lives. I use it . . . .

shnkrmn said:

Rootone lives. I use it . . . .

Click to expand...

Found it online. Different packaging. Wonder if it is the same thing? Stuff was the best I have ever used. Course, it was free at the time and I could be as liberal with it as I wanted to be

Hey all,

TusselTussel nailed it. I live in FL, where ALOT of people grow oranges and lemon trees, including myself, so hopefully my advice will help.

Certain species of plant change their genetics with every seed. This is why if you plant a red delicous apple seed you don't get a red delicious, or if you plant a naval orange seed you don't get a naval orange, also both take at least 12 years before they will bloom.

To correct this farmers make grafts of the desired tree. This entails taking the growing stalk of a "wild" apple/citrus tree (whichever your aiming for) and grafting a branch of the desired tree onto it, thus allowing the "wild" root system to supply the branch. Its kinda like a heart transplant. It is also a pretty difficult task to get down (you think cloning is hard :.

You can continue to try and clone small sapling branches, but I think you will have a GREAT waste of time.

Good luck.

Take one of the limbs that you would like to clone.

Cut it at an angle and almost completely in half, but not quit all of the way.

Pack a decent amount of dirt between were the branch was cut and pack it in and then put some black plastic around the break in the limb holding the limb back in place and tie the plastic somewhat tightly around both sides of the break and then leave it alone for six weeks and you should have roots growing from the cut branch and you can cut it all the way at that point and plant it........done.

Blessings,

Rev. TheNatural

BlessAmerica said:

Hey all,

TusselTussel nailed it. I live in FL, where ALOT of people grow oranges and lemon trees, including myself, so hopefully my advice will help.

Certain species of plant change their genetics with every seed. This is why if you plant a red delicous apple seed you don't get a red delicious, or if you plant a naval orange seed you don't get a naval orange, also both take at least 12 years before they will bloom.

To correct this farmers make grafts of the desired tree. This entails taking the growing stalk of a "wild" apple/citrus tree (whichever your aiming for) and grafting a branch of the desired tree onto it, thus allowing the "wild" root system to supply the branch. Its kinda like a heart transplant. It is also a pretty difficult task to get down (you think cloning is hard :.

You can continue to try and clone small sapling branches, but I think you will have a GREAT waste of time.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

just planted 20 red delicious apple trees last month! fugi and winesaps too

TheNatural said:

Take one of the limbs that you would like to clone.

Cut it at an angle and almost completely in half, but not quit all of the way.

Pack a decent amount of dirt between were the branch was cut and pack it in and then put some black plastic around the break in the limb holding the limb back in place and tie the plastic somewhat tightly around both sides of the break and then leave it alone for six weeks and you should have roots growing from the cut branch and you can cut it all the way at that point and plant it........done.

Blessings,

Rev. TheNatural

Click to expand...

have herd of this being done or something similar never done it but seems like a way better bet than traditional cloneing

I could do graft, but I do not have an existing tree to graft too. That is why I am aiming to produce a copy of the one he has now for my own future yard. This is where the Air Layering is looking like something I can try. Worse comes to worse, I can graft onto one of my parents' trees. They live close enough that I can collect fruit occasionally.

The other thought would be just to steal the tree when he is not looking...

Stealing is such an ugly word. I prefer, borrowing indefinitely.

not sure if this will help but i cloned a japanese vine maple this way.

take a cutting that is about 5 inches long with 2 nodes on it. below the lowest node have about 2 inches of branch. than just take a razor and strip the bark. put rooting gel onto the stripped part and then put into rock wool, vermiculite or soil.

also do a search on air layering. this is done by just taking a branch thats already on the tree, then stripping some of the bark off. then what you do is take a small amount of burlap or something like it and basically just put damp soil in the burlap and wrap the whole thing around the part where the bark is stripped. the branch will still recieve nutrients from the tree and be able to survive, but at the same time roots will grow from the part where you stripped the bark into the soil that is held on by the burlap. once the branch roots than just simply cut the clone off below the rooted part and plant it somewhere else! good luck!!

oops looks like you already were lookin at air layering..... i would do it that way for sure.

Ok, Lets start off with some quick basic advice. I have been growing, cloning, and grafting plants for over a decade. First, plants and shrubs and naturally spreading plants will always grow as clones, yes i to use rootone. Awesome stuff. For example a maple tree, it naturally sends up suckers, and is naturally built in its genetics to easily root and spread. Fruit trees however, are not this way. Not saying you can't, but i will honestly say I've tried dozens and dowzens of times to clone fruit trees with ZERO success, nor do i know a single person that has every gotten that method to work, for a fruit tree, say an apple or plum or what not. Grafting is your only option for fruit tree. Depending on variety, depending on root stock and depending on method, as a novice i would guess you'll have 25% or less sucess rate. However, you still get the 25%! And... the more you do it, and the better you get, your success rate will drastically increase!
Any ways, just thought i would save you lots of heart ache and wasted time. Best of luck to you sir.
Plants i have had AWESOME success cloning, in case you want to clone other things:
Grapes
Roses
Arborvitaes
Cacti
raspberries
maple and cherry (wild kind not fruit producing kind)
ivy
tomatoes
blackberries
jade plants
mint
spearmint
elderberry\
and many other decorative shrub type plants that we never knew the name of

LOL "The Green Herb" takes wonderfully to cloning!

Air layering looks really promising

klmmicro said:

I could do graft, but I do not have an existing tree to graft too. That is why I am aiming to produce a copy of the one he has now for my own future yard. This is where the Air Layering is looking like something I can try. Worse comes to worse, I can graft onto one of my parents' trees. They live close enough that I can collect fruit occasionally.

The other thought would be just to steal the tree when he is not looking...

Click to expand...

If your trees are named varitys , you can just re-buy them , or re graft yourself , But grafting normally must be done while the plant is dormant

Now that it's summer it's a great time to propagate your own root stock from the existing tree , or you can buy a 'whip' (named varity of root stock) for 3. - 5. $ . The nice thing about buying your rootstock is you can determine how tall the tree will get, and several other groth factors

just google scion and what ever plant your trying to propagate loots of places sell 'scion' matteral for around 3.$, Their are also scion trading groups , Yahoo has one , but it's always best to buy certified diease free stock


When you finally sell your property, you can ofter to buy the scion wood (3"-5") off the new owner . Most should be understanding since they just moved themselves

Theirs tons of great info. about grafting for free on the internet mostly from collages and agrculteral groups


Since kumquat and lemmons are related , you may even be able to graft them together , like a 2 varity apple tree ???

Sorry for chiming in but a guy up the street from me has an apple tree with 5 different types of apples on it from grafting, pretty cool stuff.