Vegetative propagation of Monkey Puzzles

[Rushes]

They grow in free draining soil so will be particularly prone to rotting. To try and strike them I would try different things, so maybe go back and get some more cuttings?

 

From where it grows keeping the bottom dryish with a relatively humid atmosphere seems the best way of trying. If you have ever tried striking cactus you will know that they loose little moisture from there shiny/spiky surface - which is a lot like monkey puzzle - and will put roots down into sand with little moisture.

 

Most important is to try lots of different things, because you have more chance. I realise that there is only one leader, but if you take the tops from a branch you may get lucky.

[daltontrees]

I am lucky to ahve  acustomer who is a Monkey Puzzle obsessionist. Her tres regularly produce lots of big fat seeds, she has a boy and a girl right next to each other. Even if she wasn't generous with the seeds, they freuenty litter the adjacent pavement. Half a mile away is a similar Romeo and Juliet pair, showering the public footway. Lots of seeds to be had.

 

Anyway, point is the customer has discovered by priceless trial and errot that it is best to germinate the seeds in pots at least a foot deep, and allow them that much depth to develop for 5 years. The pots are allowed to stand freely drained in little more than peat. Conclusion? The tap root on A. araucana is  strong and I suspect in nature is an all-important evolutionary adaptation.

 

I'd love to hear of progress on the vegetative reproduction trial Gary, but if it works a bit of soil depth is going to be important if tap root is going to develop as a buffer against a very humic surface layer and lack of drainage. My dalliances with growing stuff in pots proved to me very quickly that watering from above vs watering from below  are life or death to some species, and that there are times of the year when you need to switch from top watering to bottom watering. And vice versa.  The best strategies seem to be those that mimick nature.

 

I don't quite know why, but I would guess that unless hardiness of new cuttings is in question a good old waft of air around the waxy-cuticled leaves won't do much harm. More important maybe to keep the roots relatively warm? Don't really know my stuff on this, only what I have tried and can extrapolate to A.a.

[Gary Prentice]

On 17/02/2018 at 20:46, tree-fancier123 said:

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

It’s not so much that the client wants a MP, he wanted that one. 

We investigated transplanting it, at a cost of thousands and the risk of failure, but access restrictions between sites prevented it ( we were even considering helicopters to move it at one point.)

The tree had to go despite some very personal/emotional attachments to it, so a successful cutting (no matter how small/slow growing) would have great meaning. 

 

Im willing to spend a little time and effort, knowing what it means to the owner. Even it is a fools errand  

[Gary Prentice]

Jules,

 

Damn, I had to cut the pots down to get them in that propagation unit, which is bottom heated - I read that requirement somewhere. 

 

It would, likely, have been so much easier from seed. 

 

I’ll give it a month or so and them move them into deeper pots and take the cover off, keeping the heater on. 

 

I dont know, but suspect that they would develop a different root growth habit than that from seed, possibly with no defined tap/strongly vertical root(s)? Then again they may just die!

 

see what happens...

[tree79]

You used to be able to buy seed from Chilton  seeds, a mail order seed company. 

 

Are you dipping the cuttings in rooting hormone powder?  A heated propergator sounds good, I would assume a high humidity is needed but as already stated the media needs to open/free draining

[Gary Prentice]

Dipped in powder, 24hrs after cutting. 

Reason for the delay was some advice to allow resin to form a layer over the wound before planting. I’m not sure if that was good advice or not.

 

The lack of a clear cut methodology is frustrating. High humidity, but not too high, water from the top or the bottom - mimicking seasons etc

 

wish I had more than three cuttings to hedge my bets

[tree-fancier123]

34 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

It’s not so much that the client wants a MP, he wanted that one. 

We investigated transplanting it, at a cost of thousands and the risk of failure, but access restrictions between sites prevented it ( we were even considering helicopters to move it at one point.)

The tree had to go despite some very personal/emotional attachments to it, so a successful cutting (no matter how small/slow growing) would have great meaning. 

 

Im willing to spend a little time and effort, knowing what it means to the owner. Even it is a fools errand  

you may have already done an extensive book search - here are two that deal with woody plant propagation.

Practical Woody Plant Propagation for Nursery Growers - Bruce McDonald

apparently 7 quid from abe was 37 on amazon edit sorry wrong abe not that cheap inc postage

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780881928402/Practical-Woody-Plant-Propagation-Nursery-0881928402/plp

Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture Michael Dirr.

 https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&kn=Reference+Manual+of+Woody+Plant+Propagation%3A+From+Seed+to+Tissue+Culture&sts=t

 

unfortunately cant seem to search the index , there was another relatively modern book by a  US female author, can't find it today.

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2018 by tree-fancier123

[Gary Prentice]

I’ve got Dirrs, but it’s packed away. I don’t think MP is in that because I did have some seeds a few years back and I think I would have searched that. 

 

I’ll get the other book though, although it’s a bit late in the day to be finding out what I should have done

[tree79]

I have the woody plant propagation book, had a quick look and it's based on field sown seed propagation.

Also had a look in the grower nursery stock manual.  Copied the section below.

 

Edited February 19, 2018 by tree79

[daltontrees]

Although it relates to A. angustifolia, there may be something in it that helps. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-67622015000100009