Root cuttings outside or indoor?

[swapnil.tailor]

I have tried couple of root cuttings few months back and now they are showing new growth. I kept some of them (Pakistani Mulberry) with heat mat and others (Grape, Fig, Pomegranate, Persimmon) in pot without any heat mat in garage. Now as the weather is warming up, wondering if i can keep them outside and also in direct sunlight / shade area. Any thoughts or suggestion for that?

[achetadomestica]

I have a shaded porch I use to root cuttings. When the cuttings root and leaf out several months
I put them in a spot that gets morning sun a few hours. I prefer to go very slow and cautious.
The pictures of your cuttings looks like the buds are swelling nicely. I also have a lanai that gets
indirect light. I have good luck raising seedlings and fresh rooted cuttings in indirect light.

[PltdWorld]

Fig is super easy to root outdoors in San Diego.  When pruning my trees for shape, I will typically place 6+ cuttings (12-18" length) directly in the ground in the same hole as the mother tree... no rooting hormone or other treatment required.  I cut the end at 45 degrees and scrape some of ghe bark - then plant about 3-4" into the soil.  Same watering schedule as the mother tree.  And within a couple months they're rooted and ready to give way.

Grape works pretty much the same way, but I've seen one semi-commercial grower root his cuttings under high humidity using plastic sheeting over a raised bed.

Can't speak to the others.

[fyliu]

I just looked up rooting persimmon. Did not know you could do that. Thanks!

I root all my stuff outdoors under a shady tree. I wouldn't give them much light if they're newly planted. It could stimulate them to grow leaves instead of roots. Do give them some light if they start growing. Hopefully it'll give them more energy to grow.

Of course indoors with humidity and heat mat is best. Then move them out gradually when they start growing.

[swapnil.tailor]

I got all my cuttings (except mulberry) from CRFG Annual scion exchange, and some of the ppl there mentioned that you can do the root cutting for lot of them (i thought those are for grafting only) and so picked some to try. And seems working for most of them.

I even put them directly in the potting soil for almost a month without any root hormone, and when i bought the rooting hormone, just applied again to all of them (none were rooted or showed sign of roots by that time). And now seems they all showing the growth. It could be the cold weather that caused them to not grow.

[fyliu]

Rooting hormone causes the roots to start, but inhibits roots from growing (elongation). So if you see white stubs that should be the start of roots, the best thing is to wash off the residual hormones from the cuttings.

Also terminology clarification you likely know:
root cutting (v): sticking unrooted branch cutting into the soil so it can grow roots.
root cutting (n): part of the plant's roots that's cut off so it can grow new shoots for a new plant.

[CA Hockey]

Transferring is the tricky part. I’ve lost grafts because I transitioned from indoors to outdoors or shaded to sun too quickly.

For cuttings, I think you’re better off moving outside under a shady area during the day and bringing back inside the garage at night for a week or so, then letting them stay the night for another week or 2 before introducing the them to morning sun. Seems tedious and slow, and if you’re  not too worried about losing some cuttings you can experiment.

My fastest growing cuttings (the ones that have grown the most during the  season) are the ones that were rooted outside directly in the sun. Those were the last to leaf out by about a month-6 weeks but put on the the most growth last summer.

Good luck. I didn’t know you could root persimmon.