Vegetative propagation of Monkey Puzzles

[Gary Prentice]

Anyone tried this successfully?

I've been trying to arrange to transplant a 30+ft tree, but for access and other reasons, it's not going to happen. 

 

It now looks like it's going to have to come down and I've been asked about propagating it.  I came across this:

 

Cuttings:
Take cuttings from the current year's growth using semi-ripe or ripewood. Use only a leading or main shoot not a lateral shoot. Various cuttings from different parts of the tree will produce plants of various habits. A leading shoot will produce a plant that grows straight upward.Take 6" cuttings,from one year old growth, from summer until just before growth resumes in Spring. Midwinter and mid autumn are ideal times to make cuttings. You should use peat, perlite, conifer bark or mixtures of these with coarse sand in equal parts for the rooting medium. The cuttings may require bottom heat and plastic film over them - both common strategies for propagation - see gardening books for details. You should see growth by the summer. This is enough information to get you started. 

Take cuttings from the current year's growth using semi-ripe or ripewood. Use only a leading or main shoot not a lateral shoot. Various cuttings from different parts of the tree will produce plants of various habits. A leading shoot will produce a plant that grows straight upward.Take 6" cuttings,from one year old growth, from summer until just before growth resumes in Spring. Midwinter and mid-autumn are ideal times to make cuttings. You should use peat, perlite, conifer bark or mixtures of these with coarse sand in equal parts for the rooting medium. The cuttings may require bottom heat and plastic film over them - both common strategies for propagation - see gardening books for details. You should see growth by the summer.  

 

So it looks like a) they're not to easy to get to strike, and b) there's only one shoot on the entire tree that's usable to create a new tree?  I've also read that they coppice freely from the stump. This isn't something I've ever seen, so anyone else experienced this? I'm thinking that if it coppices there's more material to propagate from with an upright form.

 

[Gary Prentice]

Okay, so no-one has tried, vegetatively?

 

Rightly or wrongly, I've cut to apical shoot into three, hoping to improve the odds of one striking and stuck them into a under-heated propagation unit. 

 

Should I be venting the unit, or keeping it closed to increase the humidity?

 

[GreenGui]

Good post.  I have a 16 year old example that is big enough to take a few cuttings from, please keep us updated. 

 

Personally I would vent the propagator a little via the top air inlet but then again they have waxy leaves so might not suffer from wilt due to too much humidity. 

[nepia]

I germinated a couple from seed a few years back and remember the dire warnings about sterile atmosphere etc due to very high susceptibility to fungal attack.

The seedlings indeed did not survive but I can't remember if the reason for their demise was obvious.

 

I too would tend toward gentle ventilation rather than none; stagnant air isn't usually a good idea.

 

Instruction on growing conditions seem to emphasise keeping the young plants damp but on no account wet.

 

 

Good luck with the cuttings and keep us updated.

[Gary Prentice]

Nepia, do you mean susceptibility of the germinating seed or just generally? 

 

I know of a couple of people who have grown from seed but then plants to frost, which seems a bit strange considering their native range!

 

I'll leave the vent partly open and try to remember to watch the compost, the bottom heat soon bakes it.

 

 

[nepia]

The warnings related to the seedlings but strangely I now find no such warnings despite looking at half a dozen of the hits when Googling 'germinating Monkey Puzzle seed'.

Perhaps knowledge has advanced and it was the growers and not the conditions that were at fault!

 

Re losing seedlings to frost here's a guess at an explanation: in their native South American high altitude environment I would think the summers are hot so seedlings germinating in the spring would grow fast - fast enough to be of a size able to withstand the following winter's hard weather.

Losing them to frost in this country must surely be down to outdoor planting while too small.

[ArbMish]

You might have already used it but this sites really good: https://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Araucaria+araucana

Usually everything’s referenced too so you can find the original info. It had some on propagation

Good luck!

[Gary Prentice]

Thanks for the link, I had seen it (But I did do a lot of internet searching already) 

 

There isn't a great deal of information out there, most of its about growing from seed.

[tree-fancier123]

three 12" specimens here for £15, can't grumble at £5 a go, that's if they are not duff. Wonder if they were seed grown or from cuttings.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Araucara-Arucana-Monkey-Puzzle-Tree-12-3-plants/222837303530?hash=item33e22368ea:g:mfIAAOSwknJXxXNX

 

looking at some of the ones on ebay its gonna take forever to get something worth looking at from cuttings - even these 4 year old ones are small.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Monkey-Puzzle-Trees-Araucaria-araucana-2L-Pot-4-Years-Old-Perfect-Gift/182182337814?hash=item2a6ae9dd16:g:CtUAAOSwYVlaH9M6

Hope your customers arent in their 80s

[onetruth]

I've never tried this, so I might be talking out of my arse...

 

I understood that, with monkey puzzles, any cutting (except perhaps from the main, apical growth) would produce a spreading plant without discernible upright growth.  I have seen a few grown from laterals - they sort of creep.  

 

My inference was that you can't propagate a tree from a vegetative cutting without taking the top from an existing tree (thus ruining its development, and only being able to produce one further tree).  Am I wrong about this?

 

Btw: the slow growth rate is only when they are young.  After a few years they are actually quite vigorous.  

 

Edit: sorry, on reading your op more carefully, I see you already knew all this.  good luck!

Edited February 18, 2018 by onetruth