Propagating fruiting plants is surprisingly easy, and often all you need is a piece to grow a whole new plant. Absolutely love your neighbors fruit varieties? Ask them for a piece, and you can grow your own!
Many plants have the seemingly magical ability to grow from small cuttings, sprouting roots, and growing whole new plants with the right care.
Ways to Propagate Plants
There are many different ways to propagate plants and, depending on the type of cutting you’re working with, you’ll want to use the technique that will yield the best results.
Hardwood cuttings are taken from dormant, leafless plants in late fall or winter. Hardwood propagation works especially well with fruit tree cuttings (such as figs, mulberries, and quince) and vines (such as most grape varietals, kiwi fruit, and currants).
Although it isn’t strictly necessary, I find that dipping the tips of hardwood cuttings in a jar of rooting hormone before planting increases the chances of successful propagation and encourages faster root growth.
Greenwood cuttings (sometimes called softwood cuttings) are taken from the plant during the active growing season. Greenwood cuttings can be a bit more finicky than hardwood cuttings, but will yield plants at a faster rate if propagation is successful.
Layering is a type of plant propagation that involves the new plant remaining partially attached to the mother plant while forming new root systems of its own.
Layering occurs naturally for certain fruit-bearing plants, including strawberries, black raspberries, and blackberries, and it can also be forced through various layering techniques.
The six most common types of layering are:
- Tip layering
- Simple layering
- Trench layering
- Serpentine layering
- Mound or stool layering
- Air layering
This video will give you a good introduction to layering techniques, including how, when, and why to use them:
Root cuttings are taken from the root system of the plant you want to propagate. You’ll find that the cuttings are more likely to be successful if they’re taken in late fall or throughout the winter, ideally before the plants come out of dormancy.
Blackberries and other brambles are good candidates for this method.
Crown division is an easy method of propagation that involves separating a new plant from the parent plant (the “crown” of a plant is where its stem meets the root system).
Strawberry plants, rhubarb, and pineapple can all be divided up and re-planted using this technique.
Propagation Success Rates
Success rates depend on the exact type of plant, so you’ll want to look up your particular plant.
For example, grapes are usually propagated from hardwood cuttings, and most varieties have a very high success rate if grown using this method. However, muscadine grapes only have a 2% success rate with hardwood cuttings, and will only really work with greenwood cuttings.
Propagating Plants
When it comes to propagating plants, there are so many options — especially when you factor in all the different ways a cutting can be propagated. I’m focusing on fruiting plants that you’d grow in your backyard or homestead, but succulents and indoor plants are often easily propagated as well.
Be sure to use the method described, as some methods will work better than others depending on the type of fruit.
Ideally, the plants you want to propagate are already growing nearby, either in your own garden or in a neighbor’s yard. If you can source your cuttings locally, then there’s a better chance the cuttings will thrive once you’ve planted them in the ground.
You can also buy cuttings from a nursery or even order them online, just be mindful of the exact variety you’re choosing, as some will be better suited for the hardiness zone you live in than others.
Blackberries
Blackberry cuttings can be propagated in one of two ways, by using root cuttings or via the tip layering method.
To take root cuttings from blackberry plants, choose young, healthy roots that are about the width of a pencil.
Using gardening shears, remove the roots from as close to the crown as possible, taking no more than 1/3 of the root system from the parent root system.
Working carefully, cut the roots into sections that are about 3 to 6 inches long, trimming away any straggly roots ends.
Plant the roots in generous pots filled with a peat and sand mixture, spacing the cuttings about 2 to 3 inches apart. The cut surface should be facing upwards and then covered in a thin layer of compost or soil mixture. Give the cuttings a generous watering.
Place the pots in a warm location, such as cold frame or greenhouse. When the cuttings have rooted, they can be transferred outdoors and planted in your garden.
The other technique you can use for propagating blackberry cuttings is the tip layering method.
Unlike the root cutting method, tip layering doesn’t require any initial cutting to propagate the blackberry plant. You’ll want to begin this process in late summer or early fall, when the plant is actively thriving.
All you need to do is take a young shoot from the plant and bend it down to the ground. Using a small stake, position the shoot so that it can be partially covered with soil (a few inches will do).
Allow the plant to grow over the fall and winter, during which time the shoot should grow its own root system. When spring rolls around you should be able to separate the new plant from the parent plant, planting it elsewhere in your garden.
Blueberries
I’ve written an in-depth post about propagating blueberries here, but I’ll outline the basic method for you here as well.
Take hardwood cuttings from first-year blueberry plants. As long as the plants are dormant, so in the fall or winter but before the spring, you should have better luck. Through my own experience, I’ve found that older blueberry plants are more difficult to propagate but younger plants will take root fairly easily.
Take cuttings that are roughly 6 inches in length and 1/4-inch in diameter (about the thickness of a pencil).
Dip the tips of the blueberry stems in a rooting hormone, this step isn’t strictly necessary but it will help ensure successful propagation.
Plant the cuttings about 2-inches deep in moist soil in deep pots and place them in a sheltered location to protect from frost, giving them approximately 3 to 4 months to grow healthy roots before planting them outdoors in the spring.
Currants
Currants are another great candidate for propagation, especially when using hardwood cuttings. The best time to take cuttings from a currant plant is either in the fall or very early spring when the plant is still in its dormant stage. If you take cuttings in the fall, wait until the last leaves have fallen off and the stems are woody.
From there, you’ll want to follow the instructions for propagating blueberries from hardwood cuttings. The currants are ready to be transplanted once they’ve grown hardy roots, and do best outdoors in the spring or fall.
Crown division is another method you can use to propagate currant bushes, allowing you to divide up existing plants into new ones almost immediately.
To do this, you’ll need to dig up the entire plant so that the entire root ball is exposed. Working carefully, use your hands or a pair of garden forks to lift the roots out of the ground in one piece.
Use a garden hose or watering can to gently pour water over the roots, removing excess dirt so that the roots are exposed.
You can then use your hands or a sharp knife to separate the roots into two separate sections — the stems should have at least one bud in order for the plant to grow new foliage. Examine the roots and remove any dead or diseased sections of the roots and stems with a pair of gardening shears.
Using the parent plant as a guide, plant the cutting at the same depth and distance from the other currant bushes. If the cuttings come from another garden, take not of how deep the bushes were planted. Once planted, give the currants a good watering and keep a close eye on them until the bushes are firmly established in the ground.
Elderberries
When it comes to propagating elderberries, I find that taking hardwood cuttings is the most foolproof method for growing healthy new plants.
Take elderberry cuttings when the plant is dormant, where I live this is in somewhere in January all the way through March. Unlike blueberries, elderberry cuttings only need a couple of weeks to take root before they can be transplanted in your garden.
When transplanting, keep in mind the fact that elderberries need plenty of water and prefer cool, partially shady spots to open sun.
I’ve written a complete guide to growing elderberries, including information on different varieties and pollination, if you’re interested in adding these potent medicinal berries to your garden.
Gooseberries
With their bright summer ripening fruit, gooseberries are a beautiful addition to any garden.
Gooseberries can be grown from cuttings using the exact same methods as those used when propagating currants, either from hardwood cuttings or using crown division. When transplanting gooseberries, plant them in a cool, moist spot in partial shade.
Honeyberries
If honeyberries (also known as haskap berries, blue-berried honeysuckle, or sweetberry honeysuckle) are new to you, I’d describe them as resembling oblong blueberries or tiny Italian plums with a taste that’s best described as a cross between a blueberry and a grape. The fruit from a flowering honeysuckle, honeyberries are easy to grow from cuttings that have already rooted.
While it’s possible to grow honeyberries from fresh cuttings, I’ve never had much luck using this method. Instead, I recommend buying cuttings that have already rooted. This way, you can grow them in a pot for 1 to 2 years before planting them outdoors and you already know the roots are healthy and established. Despite their fussiness about growing new roots, honeyberries aren’t very particular about the type of soil they’re planted in.
Pineapples
Although I haven’t tried propagating pineapple from their tops, it looks like a fun undertaking. You can grow a new pineapple plant by removing the top of a fresh pineapple by twisting it, which will detach the crown of the pineapple from the base. Trim away any excess fruit clinging to the crown and peel back the leaves closest to to base, leaving the 1 to 2 inches of the stem exposed. You’ll notice little brown nubs along the stem, which is where new roots will grow from.
The next step is to let the pineapple crown dry out for a couple of days and up to a week in order to prevent rotting. The cutting can then be planted directly in potting soil, preferably a mixture used for cacti and succulents. Unless you live in a warm, sunny climate, it’s advisable to keep the pineapple growing in a container. It can be moved outdoors during the summer and then indoors in a sunny location when it gets colder.
You probably won’t see any fruit on your pineapple plant for 2 to 3 years, and you’ll only be able to grow one fruit at a time, but I think this would make a fascinating homeschool project (not to mention an exercise in patience).
Raspberries
Raspberries are another type of fruit that should be propagated from hardwood cuttings that have already rooted. If you have existing black or purple raspberry plants in your garden, they can also be propagated using the tip layering method as described in the blueberry section above.
If you do propagate black and purple raspberry plants, they should be planted at least 300 feet from red raspberry plants to prevent the spread of Verticillium wilt, a fungus that grows in gardens that have previously been home to nightshade plants.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb is easily propagated using crown division in the spring and is actually considered one of the best ways to keep rhubarb plants thriving and producing healthy stalks. In fact, it’s recommended that rhubarb plants be divided up every 5 or 6 years, when the plant is just beginning to come out of its dormant stage. The method is essentially the same as it is for currants, burying the crown of the rhubarb 1 1/2 to 2 inches under the soil. Give the rhubarb plenty of water to keep the roots healthy and protect new transplants from frost.
Sea Buckthorn
Whether you know sea buckthorn as sea berry, sand thorn, or sha-ji, you can propagate hardwood cuttings using dormant wood without too much effort. Instead of planting the cuttings directly in soil, they should first be soaked in water to encourage root growth (change the water daily to prevent stagnation). You don’t have to soak the entire cutting, just the first 2/3s, and you should see roots growing after a week or so.
Once you can see roots, you can plant the cuttings in pots to grow indoors. The cuttings will need about 2 months to really take hold, at which point they can be transplanted outdoors.
Strawberries
Strawberries will multiply quickly if left to their own devices and have hardy root systems that aren’t that elaborate (which is why you can order them off the internet from halfway around the world and they’ll still arrive in good shape). However, if you have existing plants or have a friend who wants to downsize their strawberry patch, standard crown division is the way to go. The best time to do this is in early spring, so that the plants have a chance to recover throughout the upcoming growing season. You might not get any fruit the first year, but as long as the plant stays healthy you should have strawberries the following year.
This guide to transplanting strawberries will take you through the entire process, with tips for spacing and choosing the best plants to divide.
Fruiting Plants You Cannot Grow From Cuttings
There are some plants that can’t be propagated using the techniques I’ve talked about in this post, such as apples, pears, and lemons. Instead, more involved propagation techniques like grafting (or even just growing from seed) are required for the plants to grow successfully.
You also need rootstock, and things get a lot more complicated. If you’re intrigued by this type of propagation, check out some of my posts that explore these techniques in greater detail:
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