Propagation by cuttings. Rooting cuttings

When in our gardening we distributed plots by lot, in my case fate was clearly guided by the principle of justice: since you are a former climber, then you will receive a property that is not level, like a table, but with a large difference in heights, i.e. located on the bottom and slope of a deep sand pit. Over the 30 years of work at this dacha, I had to fully demonstrate my ingenuity and ingenuity.

In particular, I made terraces for planting and acquired a large number of different kinds of tools. And my experience, I believe, can be useful to many readers of Dacha, especially people of age and with limitations in physical activity.

So, in order not to go broke on the “correct” purchased shovel handles, I, to the detriment of the established design, stocked up on hazel poles in the nearby forest.

I harvested them in winter and early spring, and also collected waste from unauthorized logging in the forest - large pine branches that are never straight. But it is precisely this defect that is very useful in the manufacture of handles for forks and shovels intended for some special work (photo 1).

They also make excellent braids - the tools become more grippy (photo 2).

I must note that in every young forest, as is known, sanitary felling is periodically carried out, and at this moment, which is important not to miss, it is quite possible to get hold of such free material.

I stored all this collected wealth in different ways: I built pyramids in an inclined position on the slopes of my terraces, leaning against the trees (photo 3). But the easiest way is to store the poles in a horizontal position.

To prevent the material from rotting in the grass, I laid it on charred logs left after laying the foundation for the greenhouse (photos 4 and 5), and substandard gas silicate blocks that were rejected during the construction of the house. As a result, I made cuttings for more than two dozen soil-cultivating tools (their working surfaces were made from my own metal).

At the beginning of the season, I spread all this around the site - to the terraces, to the middle (main) garden with a slope, to the lower garden. I also always keep three files at hand: there are a lot of stones in the ground, and I have to periodically sharpen the tool. And in the fall I put it all away in the barn.

Terrible on the face, kind on the inside

Yes, the cuttings turned out to be crooked, but they were very comfortable - they fit like a glove in your hand. And most importantly: if you have studied strength of strength, you know that curved rods that bend are stronger than straight ones. The same principle works here too (photos 6 and 7). And one more advantage: none of the dashing people will covet such goods; now give the thieves something similar to a fashionable Canadian shovel.

If one of the handles does break, then I use the fragments either for short handles (sometimes I make one handle out of two) or as pegs for marking. If the working surface of a shovel or hoe breaks, I drill holes in suitable fragments and attach them again to the cuttings. This is waste-free production.

In general, I noticed that the more necessary tools are in use. distributed according to work in the garden, the less running around the site.

Bark, spruce branches, branches, rotten and rotten wood, unusable chipboard and fiberboard are used to shelter the sand from the sun and create an initial fertile layer on the sandy terraces being developed. I rejoice at all the weeds as living mulch and biopumps that pump water into their above-ground parts from the sandy and rocky depths and collect nutrients.

What else can be made from hazel poles

I used a lot of prepared hazel poles to construct separate fragments of wattle fence (photo 8), frames for trellis nets for cucumbers, peas and giant beans, to create racks (horned supports for fruit trees), for fruit picker rods and secateur leashes ( 2 and 3 m long).

By autumn, almost all hazel stocks had disappeared. And I used the remains of pine poles and branches on logs and fence posts (photo 9), and on especially stable garden stairs: the apple and plum trees grew (solely due to my stupidity) very tall. I also made several dozen pegs to hold the sides of the beds from metal plates, since my main plot has a slope of 5-7°, and I have to divide it into several mini-terraces.

Based on the results of all this work, I note that it is still possible to make fences from poles, but there are no plans to decorate the entire perimeter of the site with hazel or willow wattle, since it will require too much of this material and time to grow vegetables and fruits. it just won't stay. In addition, such a fence can easily “disempower” other summer residents: they will no longer find hazel trees nearby for their needs.

For example, you can hardly get spruce branches in the forest in our district - all of it has long been adapted.

A correctly selected tool that will not let you down at the most crucial moment is already half of a good work result! In this article we will talk about how to choose a ready-made product for a shovel or make it yourself.

It would seem that such a simple tool, but it is absolutely irreplaceable in everyday life. Especially during construction work. When the shovel handle is strong, it is easy to work with the tool, and few people pay attention to its “leading” role. And if suddenly it turns out to be too short or long, poorly secured, then the work becomes much harder.

The main mistake of many craftsmen is that they hastily buy a handle for a shovel (price in this case is a decisive factor) and want to attach it to an existing bayonet. The result leaves much to be desired. Therefore, it should be taken into account that shovels are divided into three types: P, V and U. Accordingly, each type has different linings and a different metal sheet, they have their own thickness and a certain size. Knowing the type of tool, you can choose the right shovel handle.

So, let’s clarify what kind of damage is unacceptable for normal operation.

Notches.
Cracks and splits.
Wormholes.
Presence of rot.
Untreated knots.
Chips.

A normal shovel handle should have an even, uniform color and a smooth surface. In general, for each tool there are special GOSTs, which are developed taking into account ergonomics, possible loads and operating conditions. For example, a bayonet shovel with a handle, the price of which varies depending on the manufacturer, is manufactured in accordance with GOST 19586-87.

As for auxiliary tools for construction, it is better to take a shovel. It copes well with various bulk materials: coal, sand, gravel and so on. For this type of tool, an aluminum shovel handle is most often used. Durable but lightweight plastic is more suitable for snow removal.

Now let's try to make a handle for a shovel with our own hands. We take a ready-made wooden strip with a cross-section of 3 x 4 cm or cut it out of a suitable board. If to carry out work it is necessary for the hand not to slip, you can leave it like that, without rounding it. If this option is not suitable, use it to round the corners. We gradually sharpen the end of the handle, periodically trying it on the bayonet.

We do this until it begins to fit approximately halfway into the groove. If you did everything correctly, the shovel handle should fit into the bayonet without any problems. Using strong blows on a hard surface, we drive it to the very end of the groove.

To hold the shovel handle more firmly, it is recommended to secure it with self-tapping screws. If you don’t have them on hand, you can take regular nails. The final touch remains! We'll go over the entire length with sandpaper, smoothing out all the small irregularities, and then coat it with varnish. Your personal assistant in the household is ready!

Have you seen a plant you like and want to plant the same one for yourself? Do you need to propagate your own plant? Has your old plant stopped bearing fruit and needs to be renewed? How to do this correctly? This will be discussed in our article, where we will list methods for successfully cutting plants.

For successful cuttings, it is important to follow five important rules:

The plant must be healthy.
You should not take a cutting from a plant that has recently been planted using cuttings.
Cutting tools must be clean.
The cuttings must be protected from direct sunlight.
The pot with the cuttings planted in it must be covered with a plastic bag or greenhouse to create a humid atmosphere in it.

Despite the fact that propagation by cuttings is currently the simplest and most popular among gardeners, it is not always possible to maintain the viability of the cutting until its roots appear.

Why did the cuttings not take root:

The cutting was taken from a diseased plant.
Tools and utensils were dirty.
Dull scissors created an uneven edge on the cutting.
The cuttings were planted in poor quality soil without peat.
The pot with the cuttings was not covered with plastic wrap and was not watered enough.
The cutting was kept in a dark room or in direct sunlight.
The air temperature was too low or too high. The optimal air temperature should be 20-25 degrees.

You can take cuttings all year round, but it is still better to do it in the spring or autumn, since many plants slow down their growth in the fall in order to enter the active flowering phase again in the spring. But some plants, such as roses, are best taken from cuttings in August. And also, you should not take cuttings from plants in very hot or dry weather, as the moisture from it will instantly evaporate and it may not take root. The most ideal time for cuttings is after rain, when the plant is filled with moisture.

First you should know what cuttings are:

Woody - always cut in winter, when it is dormant and no longer has leaves or flowers. With the right soil composition or sufficient water, it easily sprouts roots and shoots.
Semi-woody - cut at the end of summer, beginning of autumn, when the leaves begin to fall. At this time, it retains a sufficient supply of nutrients, so it takes root well, but it must be kept in a humid atmosphere, as it dries out quickly.
Green - cut in spring or summer. This is still a young shoot from the plant, which has not yet had time to become lignified. Cuttings that appeared this year or last are ideal, since after two years the shoot becomes woody. If the plant is an annual, then any shoot can be cut off for subsequent cloning. Cutting green cuttings is done either on a cloudy day or in the shade, preventing direct rays from hitting the cuttings.

Step-by-step cuttings

Selection of shoots for cuttings

If the plant from which it is planned to remove the cutting was poorly cared for, fertilized somehow, watered from time to time or overfed with nitrogen, then there is a high risk that the cutting will not take root, will rot at the initial stage or will grow frail.

It must be remembered that the younger the plant, the higher the chance of successfully cutting a shoot, especially for plants whose roots grow with difficulty. If a plant's roots grow easily, then the age of the parent plant does not matter.

Cuttings from beautiful plants purchased recently often do not germinate, since sellers of these plants spray and fertilize them with harmful substances in order to achieve a beautiful presentation, without caring about the quality of the roots. Therefore, this plant must be cared for for at least a year, fertilizing and watering it. Then the cuttings obtained from such a plant will easily take root.

Choosing a place to cut and making the right cut

First you need to prepare a thoroughly sterilized and very sharp knife or scissors, since a dirty tool will kill the cutting.

The location for the cut depends on the cutting itself. For a green shoot, a cut is made below the bud or node by about 4 mm. For semi-lignified ones, they are cut between two nodes. If the cutting is covered with leaves, then you can make a cut anywhere. If there is a need to cut from above and below, then the upper one should be as close as possible to the bud, and the lower one should be about 3 cm below the bud.

After you have decided on the location of the cut, you need to make an oblique cut with a sharp tool, approximately 45 degrees. Since from such a cut the cutting can easily receive nutrients and water. If you make light cuts around the cut, the roots will be able to grow out of them faster.

Planting cuttings

Depending on the type of plant, you can choose where to plant the cuttings: in water or directly in the soil. Plants that take root easily can be placed in water, while other plants whose roots grow with difficulty are best planted directly in the soil.

If you grow roots in water, remember that they become fragile and you need to be very careful when transplanting them into soil. And it is undesirable to completely change the water in the jar where the cutting is located, since it then dies. You just need to add the missing part of the water from time to time and make sure that there is not too much of it, since there may not be enough oxygen at the bottom of the glass, which can lead to the death of the cutting. It is not advisable to grow more than two cuttings in one glass, since roots grow reluctantly in crowded conditions. It would be better if each cutting grows roots in its own glass or small jar.

Some plants can be planted not in a glass of water, but with hydrogel, since it has a unique feature of slowly releasing water to the plant. It is convenient because it allows the roots of the plant to receive not only water, but also oxygen. To prevent the roots from rotting, it is better to purchase a hydrogel with a diameter of about 6 mm, since a smaller hydrogel fits tightly to the roots of the plant, thereby blocking their access to oxygen. Before adding the hydrogel to the soil mixture, it needs to be wetted for two hours so that it swells. Then it will be possible to grow cuttings in it.

There are plants that do not tolerate excess water well; they need to be planted directly into the soil. But there are some nuances here too. The soil must be poor in nitrogen, free of toxic substances, and have an optimal pH level for a particular type of plant. This means that ordinary garden soil is not entirely suitable for this, since it may contain harmful bacteria and fungi that will ruin the cuttings on the vine. For cuttings, soil consisting of equal parts of peat and sand is more suitable. Any peat tablets in the form of washers of different diameters are ideal for rooting cuttings.

These tablets are convenient because they can then be planted directly into the ground without being removed from the cuttings. The main thing is not to forget to water the cuttings on time and maintain a moist environment using a plastic bag stretched over the pot. Under no circumstances should the soil be allowed to dry out.

Caring for cuttings

To ensure that the cutting takes root, it is important to organize around it not only a humid atmosphere with an average temperature of +25, but also proper lighting. Fluorescent or LED lamps are ideal for this, since direct sunlight is contraindicated for cuttings. It is advisable to turn off these lamps at night so that the plant can rest a little.

During the rooting period, it is advisable to spray the cuttings with water about three times a day, not forgetting to add an epin solution to the water, which promotes rapid root growth. When the roots or shoots grow a little, the plant needs to be hardened off by removing the plastic film greenhouse from it for a short period of time. If the plant continues to grow well, then the film can be completely removed from it over time.

Once the cuttings are well rooted, you can begin replanting them in permanent soil. It’s just not advisable to rush; it’s better to keep the cuttings in water or soil to grow roots than to plant them early in a permanent place where they may die.

If everything is done correctly, then a beautiful, strong and healthy plant will grow from the cuttings.

Growing plants from cuttings is the most popular method of vegetative propagation.

Numerous guides have been written on rooting cuttings. But in the process of cuttings and root formation, sometimes a lot of details are discovered that decisively influence the final result.

The easiest way to root cuttings is in a jar of water.

Under certain conditions, it can be used even for plants that are considered difficult to root. But despite the simplicity of this method, there are many subtleties on which success depends.

How to carry it out? What can I do to make rooting of cuttings easier? What little things need to be taken into account when taking cuttings? Let's try to answer these questions.

Should I change the water in the jar with cuttings?

When water evaporates, it is better not to change it, but to add it.

Not all plants can tolerate this change of water. In all likelihood, some necessary metabolic products accumulate in the water in which the cuttings are rooted. Thus, it was noticed that passionflower cuttings, which had already produced roots, died repeatedly after changing the water. Moreover, the water was well settled, without harmful impurities. Therefore, it is advisable not to change the water, but to add it as it evaporates.

How much water should be in the jar when cutting?

For example, a plant such as honeysuckle does not produce roots in a 200 ml jar if there are more than three cuttings in it. And if you place the cuttings one at a time in smaller containers, rooting of the cuttings occurs without problems.
Not only the amount of water per cutting is important, but also the water level in the jar. For the formation of roots, the presence of oxygen is necessary; it is not for nothing that roots form at the boundary of water and air. If the vessel is too deep and there is a lot of water, there is not enough oxygen in the lower part, which leads to rotting of the cuttings. British experiments showed that when the water in the vessel was aerated during cuttings, roots on the cuttings formed along the entire length and in a shorter time.

Selection of shoots for cutting cuttings.

It is important to choose the right shoot from which to cut the cutting. Oddly enough, the main, powerful shoots that grow upwards make bad cuttings. Good quality cuttings are obtained from lateral, not too actively growing branches. So, don’t go after power and size.
You should not take thin fruit twigs that have stopped growing. It is better to take those shoots that are still growing. Usually the middle part of the shoot is taken for cuttings. It is more convenient to cut cuttings into three buds. If the deficit is two, or even one.

Some coniferous plants, for example, spruce and pointed yew, have an interesting property. Cuttings taken from lateral horizontal branches produce disheveled, sometimes even almost creeping plants, while cuttings from vertical branches produce vertical trees.
If for cuttings one long shoot is taken and cut into several parts, then it is important from which part of the shoot the cutting is taken. Cuttings taken from a lower part of the stem take root better. When cutting roses, you can often observe that of the cuttings obtained from a stem that is equally lignified along the entire length, only the very last one, cut from the very base, takes root. This also applies to other cuttings, such as passionflower.

How and when to take cuttings?

This time, time matters: it is better to cut early in the morning - there is more moisture in the cuttings. Before planting, daytime and evening cuttings should be kept in water for an hour, renewing the cut with a sharp knife.
Depending on the type of plant and the ability of the cuttings to root, it is customary to divide the cuttings into groups.
Green cuttings - cut from early to mid-summer, in the morning.
Semi-lignified cuttings - cut at the end of summer, no more than 15 cm long.
When cutting cuttings from a green, immature shoot, the cut is made directly under the node or bud. The tissues located in this place are more resistant to fungal diseases. If a more mature lignified shoot is chosen for cuttings, the cut is usually made in the middle of the internode.
Lignified cuttings - cut during the dormant period of plants (late autumn - early spring before buds open), no more than 25 cm long.
For all types of cuttings, the rule is that you need to cut the material from a strong, healthy shoot. Trim the cuts with a sharp knife. They should be smooth, without burrs or rags.
Green cuttings can be successfully propagated by: grapes, geraniums, larkspur, forsythia, chrysanthemum, mock orange and berry crops.

They reproduce well from lignified cuttings: viburnum, dogwood, rose, plum, spirea.

From any shoots: green, semi-lignified and woody, you can cut a cutting consisting of a bud with a leaf. Such cuttings should be 2.5 - 4 cm long. The upper cut is made as close to the bud as possible; it is advisable not to leave the hemp at all. The upper cut is made as close to the bud as possible (if possible without leaving a stump). The lower one is 2.5-4 cm from the upper one.

Each cutting should consist of:
- a very short piece of stem;
- one sheet (the other sheet is removed);
- a bud located in the axil of a leaf.
It would be possible to leave all the leaves on the cuttings. But, being in water (and, even more so, when rooting in a substrate, when the supply of water is limited), excess leaves dry out the cuttings, which can cause them to die.

Methods of cutting cuttings.

On the left is a nodal cutting, its lower cut is located directly under the node or bud. Unripe green cuttings are usually cut this way, since the tissues located in this place are more resistant to fungal diseases.
Right - Cut in the middle of the internode. As a rule, this is done when cutting cuttings from more mature (woody) shoots.

If the winter cutting uses up its reserves, then the summer cutting is mainly what produces green leaf. There is a difficulty here. To produce its glucose, the leaf needs more light. But at the same time it must evaporate water, but there is still no trace of water - the roots have not grown. It will not evaporate water if the air humidity is 100%. So you need film. But in the summer, under the film, everything burns out in an hour. The solution to the problem lies in the exact selection of a place for the greenhouse. There should be almost no direct sun there - well, maybe before eight in the morning and after eight in the evening, and individual sunbeams are not contraindicated. But there should be a maximum of free sky. It’s normal - under the northern wall, and so that there are no trees or houses nearby. Or under the crown of a large tree, around which there is an illuminated space.
The bed is done the same way. The same layer of sand or screenings, spilled with a stimulant and half the dose of fertilizer. A wire frame 20-30 cm high. A clean film is stretched. One edge is dug in, the rest are pressed tightly to the ground, but in such a way that it is easy to lift the film. That's all the device called a cold greenhouse. If at the same time you arrange a reflective screen that would cast light from the open part of the sky and from the dark side, rooting will be even faster and more powerful. A sheet of aluminum, mirror film or just something white is suitable for this. The reflector effect is very noticeable.

The role of light in plant propagation by cuttings.

Light has a significant effect on the rooting of cuttings. If the cutting has at least part of a leaf, it needs light to root. At the same time, cuttings without leaves produce roots better in the dark. The reason for this is that if the cutting was harvested at a time when the plant no longer had leaves, it contains a certain amount of heteroauxin, which stimulates the formation of roots, which, in all likelihood, decomposes in the light. And in the presence of green leaves, heteroauxin, on the contrary, is produced. From this point of view, it would be better to leave a large number of leaves on the cuttings, but in this case, moisture evaporates more actively and the cuttings dry out. Therefore, it is recommended to remove most of the leaves, and sometimes even cut off the halves of the remaining leaves.
So, the light factor during cuttings affects as follows. A cutting that does not have leaves produces roots better in the dark.
To root a cutting that has at least a piece of leaf left, light is needed.
It is worth noting that in light dishes, even in the light, roots form worse than in dark ones.

Storage and planting of cuttings.

For green cuttings, place the chopped material in a plastic bag or place it in water. Green cuttings must be planted on the day of cutting. Green cuttings cannot be stored at all without moisture. They can be worn in a damp bag for at most half a day, but they cannot be wrinkled. By placing them in water, they can be preserved for a couple of more days, but the leaves should not fall into the water, and it is better to put a bag of transparent film on the jar to increase air humidity.

It is enough to weed such a greenhouse and water it with a watering can once a week. It is better, of course, to arrange wick watering. When the shoots begin to grow rapidly, the film can be removed, but you need to water more often. You can feed it once every two weeks, and if humus is added, you don’t have to feed it at all. Subtlety of care: leaves that stick to sweaty film or sand quickly rot. Make sure this doesn't happen.

Lignified cuttings can be stored in a bag in the refrigerator or in sand in the basement until spring.

For green cuttings, to prevent excessive loss of moisture, cut the leaf blades in half. For plants with a hollow core, the lower cut of the cutting must be filled with paraffin to prevent rotting. This process involves covering the cuttings with a thin film of paraffin. This is done as follows: the upper ends of the cuttings or seedlings with the eyes located on them are immersed for a moment in molten paraffin, the temperature of which should be + 75-85 ° C. If you use paraffin heated to a lower temperature, then its layer on the cuttings will form too thick and it will often crumble later. Paraffin is heated in a water bath. Paraffin cannot be heated over an open fire, because its temperature can be much higher than recommended, and this will lead to burns of the tissue of the cuttings; in addition, paraffin heated to a high temperature is a fire hazard.

For waxing, you can use regular technical paraffin, or just regular paraffin candles. In order for the paraffin to stick better to the cuttings and its film to be elastic, you can add bitumen and rosin, 30g per 1000g of paraffin. If you add beeswax to paraffin, up to 10% of its weight, then waxing of cuttings and seedlings can be done at a lower temperature. The use of paraffin, which has good anti-transpiration properties, allows you to increase the survival rate of cuttings in a shkolka (this is a mini-bed, a place for cutting seedlings, rooting cuttings, cuttings of perennials, i.e. where plants with different growth periods are grown) and planting seedlings and then covering them with soil.

Select the distance between the cuttings according to the size of the plant so that the leaves do not touch. This time we deepen it purely symbolically: semi-lignified ones - to the lower third, herbaceous ones (mint, lemon balm, etc.) - by 2 cm. In summer, the cuttings rot especially quickly, and the roots grow even better if the moisture is not very close. Bury the green cuttings into the ground up to the leaves.
Bury the lignified cuttings into the soil so that 2-3 buds remain above the surface. The cuttings should be 2-3 cm above the ground. Keep the soil moist.

Try to root whatever you want. Look at the cutting realistically: it is a living organism that has everything it needs to survive. There is both a bud and a cambium for the roots. A cutting is almost the same as a seed. Even the ends of perennial currant branches cut in August and sea buckthorn branches cut in September take root. Even two- and three-year-old wood takes root.
Moreover, the ability to take root by cuttings is developed. Plants have a “memory” for rooting! About a third of the cuttings take root first. Cuttings taken from rooted plants survive by two-thirds. And cuttings from them take root one hundred percent. This was described in detail by Michurin.
And that is not all. The most unrooted cuttings can be prepared for guaranteed rooting. And even make it take root “without leaving the branch.”

How to root anything that doesn’t want to take root.

The most reliable way to root a plant is to make layering. A branch, buried in the ground and moistened, gives its roots over the summer without risking anything and without stopping its growth. In the spring it can be cut off and planted wherever needed. This way you can reproduce anything. And the trees take root well. Layerings are not done because most gardeners are used to raising the crown high above the ground for some reason. Yuri Ignatovich Trashchei's trees in Vasyurinskaya sit almost horizontally. Their branches are lowered and dug in, then dug in again, and the trees can “walk” through the garden, forming a low-growing “tree-garden”.
And the Chinese noticed in ancient times: if a branch is placed strictly horizontally, several shoots climb up from it. If such a branch is buried, roots form under each shoot, and you can get several plants.
The mother branch (shoot) must be pinned firmly to the ground and watered well. The method is called: Chinese layering. It is used when propagating rootstocks in nurseries: the regrown seedling is buried in a ditch, leaving only the top in the light. By autumn, a “comb” of shoots grows, and everything with its roots can be divided.
And in Kazakhstan, a varietal tree is buried in two directions for three years in a row. The main skeletal branches become like rhizomes, and underground trunks are formed, overgrown with roots. And on top there are a wall of fruit-bearing branches. This greatly improves drought resistance. And in cold climates, God himself ordered the use of this technique.
The formation of roots on a layer can be enhanced and accelerated by cutting or removing part of the bark on the underside of the branch. Substances flowing from the leaves will accumulate here, and an influx will form, containing a mass of root buds. If only one layer is separated, the entire bark can be cut into a ring. All the substances will settle here and a bloat will form, which is even better.
Michurin, who already at the age of ten was playfully grafting anything, learned to use it. There was always a shortage of land in his nurseries, and he came up with a method of air layering. If the branch cannot be lowered to the ground, then why not raise the earth to the branch? It turned out that there was enough water. Ivan Vladimirovich used a device made of a rubber and glass tube. In May he ringed young branches, in July the tube was filled with roots. Only the apple trees were struggling: the roots might not appear until the fall. But here’s what’s important: all the “stubborn” branches formed an excellent swelling, and it was covered with pimples of root buds. All these branches, planted in the beds in the spring, took root perfectly! Conclusion: simply by ringing the shoot at the beginning of summer, we prepare it for confident rooting.

It is not difficult to ring young currant or gooseberry branches at the base and cover them with soil or put on a bag, box, or kefir package filled with moist soil. When the harvest is ripe, we cut off the branches with berries. The berries go into action, and the branches with roots go into the ground. A year - and new bushes. It’s a miracle with grapes: ring the fruit shoots at the base (those on which the tassels ripen) in June, and in the fall you’ll cut not just any, but stems ready for rooting. And if you are not too lazy to tie down the soil, then in August-September you can plant chubuk with roots. In the spring it will grow powerfully, developing three branches at once. Winning - year! If this becomes a habit, we will have a late summer market for planting material.

All this was developed and described back in the 20s. Michurin really hoped that our gardening would be transformed thanks to his methods. “This method of rooting, when fully developed, promises a big revolution in horticulture in the future. In this case, the wait for the start of fruiting will have to be much shorter compared to grafted trees.” Here is N.I. Kurdyumov’s version of creating layering.

In May-June, the border between last year's and summer's wood is clearly visible: the place from which the shoot began to grow. Remove a centimeter-wide ring of bark immediately below this joint. We also make furrows to form roots 3-5 cm long. It is better to take a growth shoot, without branches - it is more convenient to put on a bag. From below, we tightly tie the bag onto the palm below the ring of the removed bark. We must blind all the buds inside the package. In the bag we put damp rotted sawdust, rotted leaves, moss, a little humus or soil. Moisturizing - average, not dirty at all! Quantity - no more than a glass. We tie the bag on top 2-3 cm above the furrows. Now let's wrap it all in a couple of layers of newspapers and secure them: the sun should not heat the bag too much. This is all. Sometimes you can come up, remove the paper and see what is being done in the package. As soon as the bag is filled with roots, the growing shoot can be shortened by half. After a week you can plant it in a well-watered hole. You need to cut the branch along the bottom edge of the bag, and remove the bag when planting.

You can root both two- and three-year-old branches in this way. Of course, planting them in summer is a big risk, and you need to wait until autumn. But such branches immediately produce fruit-bearing, low-growing trees.

You can “remove” an entire young tree! A three- to four-year-old tree can have its trunk ringed. Strengthen, as expected, a container with earth - a bag or box. Water. By autumn, roots have formed, and the tree can be cut off and planted - of course, greatly relieving the crown. And new shoots will creep out from under the ring - in a couple of years, a new crown of the headless tree will grow from them. This is how two trees are made from one tree in one summer. This is especially popular in the tropics.

Is it possible to take cuttings from plants during the dormant period?

Surprisingly, many plants reproduce better during the dormant period. For example, a large percentage of spring cuttings of black currant die, but those planted in the ground in the fall take root much better.
Sea buckthorn branches harvested at the end of January - February form roots in water after 1 - 2 weeks in a jar of ordinary water. Adding honey to water to root sea buckthorn has a good effect. Dilute a tablespoon of honey in a glass of water and leave the cuttings in the solution for 6-12 hours. When cutting sea buckthorn in winter, it is important to remember that the roots on the cuttings grow quickly and if you do not transplant them into the soil in time, they will outgrow and can easily break off.

Also, experienced gardeners say that yew berry and thuja vulgaris, which gave roots in February - March, were planted in the ground in May - June and took root well.

How to choose a mother plant.

How well the cuttings will take root also depends on the plant from which they are cut. Interestingly, the ability of taken cuttings to root depends on the nutrition of the mother plant. In particular, from his nutrition. If the mother plant has not been fertilized, rooting of cuttings obtained from it is difficult. If it received fertilizing with a high nitrogen content, the cuttings also give roots very poorly. In order for roots to form easily and actively on cuttings, fertilizers for the mother plant must contain sufficient amounts of potassium and phosphorus and a small amount of nitrogen. If it receives nitrogen in excess, then the roots on the cuttings form very poorly.

It is also difficult for cuttings of a plant that has been “starving” to form roots.

Also for plants that have difficulty rooting, the age of the mother plant is a significant factor. Cuttings taken from older plants take poorly or do not take cuttings at all, even if the cuttings are taken from annual shoots and even when they are treated with a root formation stimulator. Conversely, young plants produce rooted cuttings even in species that are not usually propagated by cuttings, such as apple and pear trees. But in order for such cuttings to produce roots, they need to be treated with heteroauxin.
At the same time, for easily rooted plants, the age of the mother plant does not matter.
Selecting a part of the shoot for cuttings.
It is also important from which part of the shoot the cutting is taken.
Often very long shoots are taken for cuttings, from which a large number of cuttings are cut with pruners at once.
The lower the segment of the stem from which the cutting is taken is located, the better it takes root in most plants.

Growth stimulants for cuttings.

To increase the likelihood of rooting, to accelerate the formation of roots on cuttings (especially those that are difficult to root), to obtain a more powerful root system, it is recommended to treat the cuttings before planting with growth stimulants (phytohormones), which promote the beneficial accumulation of organic substances at the site of root formation. For successful cuttings of woody plants, growth stimulants are often used:

Heteroauxin (fine crystalline powder of white, pink or yellowish color);
- beta-indolylbutyric acid (outwardly similar to heteroauxin);
- beta-indolylacetic acid and alpha-naphthylacetic acid (white or grayish powders).

Growth stimulants have great biological activity, so they are used in very small concentrations (according to instructions). To treat cuttings with solutions of growth stimulants, glass, porcelain or enamel dishes are used. Treatment of cuttings with growth stimulants is carried out in a darkened room at a temperature no higher than 20-23 degrees (higher temperatures are dangerous, and at 28-30 degrees poisoning of the cuttings occurs).

Three methods of stimulating treatment of cuttings are most often used:

Immersion of the lower ends of the cuttings in aqueous solutions of stimulants (solutions of low, medium or high concentration are prepared);
- immersing the lower ends of the cuttings in alcohol solutions of stimulants (used to treat cuttings of plants that cannot remain in water for a long time, as well as for propagating rare and valuable plants);
- treatment of the lower ends of the cuttings with dry growth powder (a mixture of a growth stimulant with talc or crushed charcoal, usually at the rate of 1-30 mg of stimulant per 1 g of talc or charcoal).
Root formation of cuttings is further enhanced by treating their lower ends before planting with a mixture of a growth stimulator with vitamin C (ascorbic acid) or vitamin B1 (thiamine). Vitamins also contribute to faster growth of shoots in rooted cuttings (however, the use of vitamins alone to improve root formation and better growth of shoots in cuttings, without using growth stimulants together with vitamins, does not give a positive effect). When preparing aqueous or alcoholic solutions of a growth stimulator, when preparing growth powder, one of the above-mentioned vitamins is added to them, after dissolving its powder in a small amount of water. After preparing an alcohol solution of the stimulant, a vitamin is added to it in the following concentration: vitamin C - 20-50 mg per 1 ml of 50% alcohol, vitamin B1 - 2-20 mg. When preparing growth powder, dissolved vitamin is added to it at the rate of: vitamin C - 50-100 mg per 1 g of talc or coal, vitamin B1 - 5-10 mg per 1 g.

A freshly prepared growth stimulator solution along with a vitamin solution added to it is used immediately after cutting the cuttings; the depth of immersion in the growth stimulator solution depends on the length of the cuttings and the degree of their lignification. Green cuttings are immersed in the solution by 2-4 cm (no deeper than a third of the length) and kept in it for 10 hours to a day (according to the instructions); The processing time depends on the concentration of the solution and the type of stimulant. The short length and the presence of leaves in green cuttings contribute to enhanced absorption of the stimulant by the cuttings along with water. Lignified cuttings are immersed in the solution up to half or two-thirds of the length of the cutting.

In growth powder prepared in advance for dry treatment of cuttings before planting, the content of a growth stimulant can vary within significant limits (depending on the desired activity of the stimulant). To prepare growth powder, the stimulator is first dissolved in water, and then this aqueous solution is thoroughly mixed with talc or charcoal and a vitamin solution. The resulting mixture is dried in a dark place at a temperature of 50-70 degrees; The powder is stored in a tightly closed opaque container. To treat the cutting, its lower part is moistened with water, dusted with growth powder and immediately planted.

Amateur gardeners often use Epin, Kornevin, Sodium Humate, Zircon, and aloe juice as growth stimulants when rooting cuttings. Seeds, corms, and cuttings of perennial plants are also soaked in growth stimulants before planting. The Epin solution has proven itself very well as a natural bioregulator when used for spraying to maintain plant immunity during the rooting process, before and after picking seedlings and under stressful plant growing conditions.

Some amateur gardeners have recently been practicing an interesting method of cuttings, which allows them to root even plants that are difficult to cut.
The cuttings are stuck into a potato tuber from which all the eyes have previously been removed. Then the tuber is buried in the ground, and the cutting is covered with a glass jar and watered regularly. At the same time, the cuttings are supplied with a large amount of nutrients and actively produce roots, and the plants subsequently grow and develop well.

Surely many people on the Internet have seen this method of cuttings. But, you can go for such an experiment when you have a lot of cuttings and you don’t mind if they die. And if you bought 3-5 cuttings, it’s better not to tempt fate and experiment with potatoes.

The best cuttings

The handle for shovels and other garden tools must be made with high quality, otherwise problems cannot be avoided. The wrong handle, as soon as you “check” it for a solid force, breaks instantly. What is the reason? Is it really all about strength, or are there other quality criteria?

The cutting must be the right size. This is one of the most important rules. It is believed that the ideal cutting size should imply the correct height:

First of all, you need to pay attention to the worker’s shoulder. Approximately for our person, the height of the handle should vary between 140-180 cm. If the height is higher or lower, then the length of the handle must be changed accordingly;
If the cutting is being prepared for use with a shovel, then you can make it shorter. The fact is that it is extremely inconvenient to rake various loose objects or other things with a long shovel, but a short one, on the contrary, is easier. This also applies to pitchforks. If you are going to use them to carry hay bales, then it would be better to put them on a short handle, but you need to load the bales onto the carriage with long forks;
If the shovel is a sapper, then naturally the handle length should be reduced to extreme values.

As a rule, it is 70-80 cm, perhaps even less.

Wood

Birch is the best cutting

The second rule of a good cutting is the quality of the material. You need to know which types of wood are best suited for this. In this case, the product will not only receive the appropriate strength, but also the appearance will be at the same level. Let's look at the most popular types of wood used for making cuttings:

Pine is considered the simplest material, the abundance of which on the market is sometimes surprising. On the other hand, it is understandable, because pine is considered a soft material, which greatly facilitates the manufacturing process: the material is quickly and efficiently processed, sanded and looks beautiful. Only pine has one drawback that casts a huge shadow on all the advantages of this wood, like a fly in the ointment - reliability. Pine products are not suitable for shovels and forks, as they will not last long. Over time, the material weakens, the stem breaks at the first serious effort.
Birch is strong, cheap and easy to get in our country. In addition, despite its high strength, birch is incredibly light, which is a fundamental factor for a tool. Birch can withstand heavy loads for a long time and does not break even if heavy soil is not dug up properly. Wood processing is also not difficult: birch is easily planed and the fibers are removed evenly. True, birch products take much longer to polish, but the quality of the cuttings is much higher than pine ones.
Ash and oak are the best types of wood. Only ash is too expensive, and oak is heavy.

Beech and larch also have disadvantages, as they have a high density. If you need a quality cutting, contact the best manufacturer of quality birch cuttings in the Far East. We have promotions, take advantage of them!

Handle for a shovel, made using an electric drill

The use of an electric drill, instead of a lathe, is indeed very original. Although for this you will need a few more clamps, a knife from a hand plane and two prepared bars, with holes for the diameter of the handle being made.

First, we make a hole, using a feather drill, in two bars, to the diameter of the shovel handle.

What kind of wood are shovel handles made from?

Then we cut or plane one of the bars until the hole goes out and a knife from a hand plane can be placed on this cut.

In such a tool, if you insert a workpiece into it, then when rotated, you will get a round cylinder. The second block, with a hole, will serve as a stop when almost half of the cutting blank begins to dangle around.

We attach both bars to the table using clamps. Then we take a workpiece, usually a square block, plan the corners and get something like an octagon. We round one side of the workpiece so that it fits into the hole of the block with a knife, and on the other side we make a cut in the middle, at the end, to insert a feather drill into it. The cut, after inserting the feather drill, can be compressed with a metal clamp.

We insert the drill into the drill, and the second part of the workpiece into the hole of the block, with a knife, while trying to keep the workpiece parallel to the table and at a right angle. Turn on the drill and slowly feed the workpiece, working the surface in a circle. When processing almost half of the workpiece, insert the processed part into the guide hole of the second block.

Round parts make good cuttings for shovels, rakes, dowels and other cylindrical products.
Author RVT

How to make an excellent shovel handle without significant costs

Excellent sharpening on lathes. When steamed, it bends well, so it is widely used in the manufacture of bent products. When finishing with transparent varnishes and polishes, a preliminary operation is required to fill the pores of the wood. It is poorly impregnated with protective compounds, so it is advisable not to use it for products used outdoors. It is better not to use stain finishing, as this gives the wood a gray tint, so natural color is preferable.
Products
Since ancient times, oars, war clubs, bows and arrow shafts, dishes, wheel rims and spokes have been made from ash. The floors, thanks to the high wear resistance of wood, lasted for decades. Aircraft propellers, car bodies, and the lining of railway cars were made from ash.
Currently, tennis rackets, clubs and skis, and sports bows are made from it. Handles for tools, axes, handles for shovels, rakes and other tools made from ash wood are very good. The best are considered to be wooden caulking made from this tree, used for punching inter-crown insulation in log houses and wooden bathhouses.
Furniture made from solid wood lasts for decades and retains its noble appearance. It is often decorated with carvings. Veneer is used for cladding furniture made from less valuable tree species and for finishing panels on the walls of premises. Bent furniture made of ash is very reliable in use.
Ash floors are very popular, both in the form of solid boards and as parquet. Such floors fill the room with energy; light wood fits into any interior.
Ash wood is widely used for making carved dishes, turned bowls, and various souvenirs. Products made from ash burls are highly valued. These are, first of all, various boxes, small souvenirs and jewelry. It is believed that various brooches, beads, bracelets, and pendants made of ash help a person gain spirituality and the ability to clearly see the world around him.
A true craftsman will always find a use for the wood of this noble tree.

This thematic article belongs to an expert in the field of woodworking industry, a specialist with many years of experience in the field of woodworking - Yuri Nikolaevich Zelentsov.