A Beginner’s Guide to Tree Cuttings
27 September 2024Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
Achieving effective climate resilience means tree planting in some form or another. Trees and woodlands provide a multifaceted range of benefits that include sequestration of atmospheric carbon, the provision of shelter, protecting vulnerable soils and livestock and their inherent habitat value.
Scotland’s Forest Strategy 2019 – 2029 sets out the vision for the country’s woodland by 2070:
- In 2070, Scotland will have more forests and woodlands, sustainably managed and better integrated with other land uses. These will provide a more resilient, adaptable resource, with greater natural capital value, that supports a strong economy, a thriving environment, and healthy and flourishing communities
To achieve this, Scottish Government have set ambitious planting targets (15,000 hectares per year by 2025) for newly created woodland, the equivalent of around 30 million trees, a crucial component in addressing the climate crisis, aiming for 21% woodland cover by 2032. To date Scotland leads afforestation efforts in the UK and is responsible for nearly 80% of all new woodlands across the nations.
The act of taking cuttings from a tree and propagating it, that is establishing a new plant that is independent of its parent, is a practice that is believed to originate in what is now Egypt or the Near East, and was first used to aid in the growing of grapes, figs and olives. The precise date that people first took cuttings from trees is unclear. The process involves taking a cutting from a living tree and creating the correct conditions for it to generate its own rooting potential, after which point it can be potted or transferred to a preferred site.
Taking cuttings can be a great method for ensuring the spread and survival of aging, high nature value habitat, this is particularly true where there is a conservation or heritage interest.
Propagating new trees from cuttings is an effective way of securing a reliable supply of new trees over time, bringing a range of benefits:
| Benefits of cuttings | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Genetic consistency | Taking cuttings produces a clone of the parent tree, ensuring that genetic traits, especially those that are advantageous can be promoted and spread. |
| Faster establishment | Having a structure already in place for new growth often means that plants can establish faster and more successfully. |
| Cost-effective | The practice can provide a low-cost alternative to purchasing individual trees, especially if done at plantation scale. |
| Preservation of rare or endangered species | For trees that are difficult to propagate by seed, or for rare and endangered species, cuttings can be a crucial method of propagation. It allows for the preservation and multiplication of valuable genetic material that might otherwise be lost – aspen being a good example of this. |
| Biosecurity | Resistance to disease can more effectively be transferred from a cutting than a seed. Seeds can also be more vulnerable to pathogens that may be present in the soil. |
| Adaptability | Trees grown from cuttings can be more adaptable to specific environments, especially when the parent tree has proven successful in local conditions. |
A step-by-step guide for taking a cutting and propagating successfully:
| Steps | Instruction | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Select the right cutting | Pick a healthy branch | Choose a healthy branch, free from disease. |
| Length of cutting | Aim for a cutting 6 inches long with several leaves. Ideally, the cutting should be from recent growth, typically one year old. | |
| Type of cutting | Softwood cuttings come from tender new growth, while semi-hardwood cuttings are from more mature growth. | |
| Make the cut | Use clean tools | Clean tools will lessen the change of disease. |
| Cut below the node (bottom cut) | Make a clean cut just below a leaf node where roots are most likely to form. | |
| Cut at an angle | Make the cut at a slight angle to increase the surface area for rooting. | |
| (top cut) | ||
| Prepare the cutting | Remove lower leaves | Strip off the leaves from the lower half of the cutting to reduce moisture loss and help the cutting focus on root development. |
| Trim the cutting | If there are flowers, remove them to focus the energy on rooting. | |
| Treat with rooting hormone (optional) | Use rooting hormone | Dip the cut end of the branch in rooting hormone powder or gel to encourage faster root growth. This step is optional but can improve success rates, especially for softwood cuttings. |
| Plant the cutting | Prepare the pot | Fill a small pot with well-draining potting mix. You can use a mix of perlite, sand, and peat moss or a commercial rooting mix. |
| Insert the cutting | Make a hole in the soil with a pencil or stick, then gently insert the cutting into the soil, covering the base of the cutting by a few inches. | |
| Firm the soil | Press the soil lightly around the cutting to hold it in place. | |
| Water and cover | Water the cutting | Water the pot thoroughly, ensuring the soil is moist but not waterlogged. |
| Create a humid environment | Cover the cutting with a plastic bag or place it in a propagator to maintain humidity. Make sure the plastic doesn’t touch the leaves to prevent rot. | |
| Transplanting | Transplant to larger pot or ground | Once roots have formed, transplant the young tree into a larger pot or directly into the ground. Harden off the tree by gradually introducing it to outdoor conditions before planting it in a permanent location – this process can take up to one year for hardwoods but is generally shorter for softwoods. |
Species selection is an important aspect to consider, in most cases hardwood trees and shrubs respond better to propagation - these include species like willow, birch and hazel, trees normally associated with natural succession. Softwood species typically used in propagation are generally conifers. Softwood species respond best to cutting in the early to mid-spring, whereas hardwoods tend to favour late season when the tree is essentially dormant.
Success rates for rooting are highly variable and can be influenced by a range of factors, for example, rarer or older trees will require bespoke growing conditions, and successful rooting can take a lot of trial and error.
Any successful cutting/transplanting requires monitoring. A list of reasons why cuttings fail is shown below:
| Reasons cuttings fail | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Rotting | Rotting can be caused by a variety of issues, including too much and too little water, contamination (watch for plastics if used to build humidity). |
| Light | Indirect natural light is often required to trigger root development (artificial grow lights can be used as an alternative where no root development is occurring). |
| Foliage | Leaves require energy, at a time when all the energy the plant has should be directed at rooting, so removal of leaves is recommended in most cases. |
| Exposed wounds | Taking a cutting can be traumatic for the plant, allowing the plant time to recover and scab over can prevent too much moisture from damaging the cutting. |
| Difficulty | Some trees are much more receptive to taking cuttings and propagating, some failures are inevitable and success rates will vary with different species. |
By Alex Pirie, SAC Consultant.
Sign up to the FAS newsletter
Receive updates on news, events and publications from Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service