Myrtaceae by Cuttings

[Grapebush]

As all we know, Myrtaceae species are hard to take by cuttings, and even by airlayer. However I think I'm starting to have some success, and I think I got the key factor to do it.
In all the cases I'm observing some evolution, there's one thing in comon: "Constant wet soil".
Also in all cases I used small/thin cuttings, usually sucker from the base of other plants I have, that I remove and stick in the soil (as I hate to trow them to waste).

Here you can see some images of the best cases, all of them were planted about 8 months ago except the jaboticaba, that is standing there for a little more than one year.

Pitangatuba (it only had 2 leaves when planted)


Cherry of the Rio Grande (the hardest one)


Black Pitanga (you can see some new growth)


Jaboticaba


and another one when I transplanted it 3 months ago


I've "tested" if they had roots or not, by trying to pull it off gently, and all of them are well stucked to the soil, specially the Jaboticaba.

[Luisport]

WOW! Muitos parabéns! Congratulations, very impressive! 

[ScottR]

Looks interesting Grapebush keep us posted on results as they grow contrat's

[akanonui]

I was going to post something about airlayering with eugenias because I have been trying for a while now to air layer my grumichama. This new info will help a lot, so thank you very much for sharing!

[HIfarm]

Thanks for posting this, g.b., please keep us posted on how it works out.  So, you just pop the cutting into moist soil, no rotting hormone or anything applied?

John

[Solko]

Congratulations on your takes. That is pretty amazing and really great to see, thank you for sharing.
I have tried several times to take cuttings of Myrtaceae, but it is hard. Keeping the soil wet is a good tip. I have had good success with semi hardwood cuttings of Ugni, and none with Feijoa.
I did have a couple of takes on my Campomanesia's laat year, so that may be worth sharing here. They do take a long time and do not seem to mind the cold that much, but after taking hardwood cuttings in autumn, one out of three developed roots the next spring. With a little bottom heat - I also didn't let the soil dry out.
Very hopeful results! I will try my COTRG and some pitanga's and maybe some leaf cuttings this year as well, Adam seems to have had success with that for Grumixama.
Thanks for sharing!

[Grapebush]

Hi everybody. Sorry for the late reply, but I'm out working, so not too much time to take a look on the forum.

Trying to answer all questions, I simply remove the small branches from the mother tree and stick it immediately into the soil. I normally use a very loose soil and rich in organic matter. No rooting hormones were used in any of the cases. In addition to the constantly wet soil, when I'm home I use to spray them with water, at least once a day, however I don't do that everyday, as sometimes I spent a few weeks out in row for work. Another thing I remember I did in some, but not in all of them, and can't remember which ones I did it or not, was scratch part of the bark with my finger nail, before putting it into the substract.
Curiously from the takes I show here, the hardest to root, wasn't the Jabuticaba, which is well known for being one of the hardest to take, but the black Pitanga, and the Cherry of Rio Grande, that stayed on the soil for so many months, always green but without doing nothing. If you're going to try this, be prepared for spending a lot of time before you can see any results, and remember these are the ones that had taken for me, but they were not the only ones I planted... Expect some failures as well.

Solko, I had tried so many times with feijoa as well, but I've never had a single take with them, same thing with airlayer, for this species...
Right now I'm also trying some Grumixama cuttings from big leaves, small leaves, softwood branches and semi hardwood branches, and another method for Jaboticaba. As soon as I have some results (if I'll have it) I will share here.

Finally, most of them, only started to show some progress after the temperatures started going above 22/23 degrees Celsius. So I think that maybe the best time to do this would be late winter/early spring, so they will have increasingly temperatures each month, and maybe they could root by the end of summer.
I also forgot to tell that the black Pitanga was in the shade all the time, Jaboticaba and cherry of Rio Grande, were in filtered sunlight and the pitangatuba is in full sun since last January.

Best luck for those who may try this.

[Grapebush]

A little update on my Myrtaceae planted by cuttings.
The Pitangatuba and Jabuticaba, are still growing at an interesting rate. The Cherry of Rio Grande and Black Pitanga, haven't had any progress, and had even lost some leaves, however, they're still alive...

The Pitangatuba


The Jabuticaba

[ondrej]

It is possible propagated from cuttings.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

thanks for sharing the pics and info Grapebush!  I think you will have great success...the only people that fail, are those who never try.

I think that is why I've failed to root so many plants...I need to try more!

Now I'm rooting some cuttings that I've never tried before, I've seen some inspirational stuff being done in Taiwan, where it seems they can root anything.

[Grapebush]

Thank you both for your replies!

Adam, you're right; if one don't tries, it's sure it will never happen! These are the ones with best results, but I've failed so many times before, with this family (and I still keep failing quite a lot). I'm trying to root a bigger Jabuticaba cutting, using another method, and one of the 3 that I planted using the same method, is still alive after about 6 months; the other 2 had survived for about 2 months and then sudenly dried out. If this one holds it's leaves for another month, I might include it in the next update.

[Grapebush]

So, this week I decided to transplant the Pitangatuba cutting for it's own pot (as I had rooted it in the same pot where the mother plant is), and for my surprise, the root system, was huge! I was thinking it shoud have 2 or 3 small roots, and look what it had!

[Grapebush]

Recently I decided to pull 2 Plinia Sp. cuttings I had in a pot, to see if it had form any roots, and eventually put it in it's own pots, and to my surprise they had developed some nice roots, and much more complex and strong root system than plants started from seeds.
Just take a look:





Also some update on my first rooted jabo cutting, and the Pitangatuba one as well.

[msk0072]

Nice work there
I hope your results are reproducible from other forum mumbers.

[Grapebush]

Nice work there
I hope your results are reproducible from other forum mumbers.

Thank you very much, for your comment.
I also hope this could encourage other people to try it.
It all started almost by accident, and now that I'm repeating it, from time to time, it seams quite easy to get a take; I'm just cutting young stems of my seedling plants, and sticking it in a pot right away; then I don't bother them for about 6 months, and that's it.
I noticed that they root faster, and develop stronger roots, if the potting mix, is a little bit sandy.

Cheers,
Nélio.

[huertasurbanas]

Wow Nélio, that is amazing! I tried to root jaboticabas but never success on it, I will try your method but we are in winter now so I will wait till spring, have a lot of species to try

What is that jaboticaba species?

[tropical66]

 Very good idea. Thanks bro

[greenman62]

The first Jabo i bought (about 4 yrs ago) was put in ground 2 years ago
we had 1 really cold night this winter, hitting 28F-ish
it destroyed the top of the plant with lots of dead wood,
but the lower branches are putting out new growth.

and now, for some reason it just put out about 8 root suckers
are very thin growth,
but i pulled them up trying to get as much root as possible.

anyway, they each had 6- 8 leaves, in which i removed about 1/2
and i planted them in a container.

this plant did this a couple of years ago also
i wasnt able to get those suckers to live, but i am putting a little more care into it this time
and i think a few may have a little more root to them.

its good to see new growth on yours Grapebush.
gives me a little hope this time i will get some plants from this.

[ScottR]

Very nice result's Grapebush, it's nice to see someone succeed where other's have failed!!best of luck and growth on your new plants!

[Grapebush]

Thank you everybody for your comments and inputs.

Marcos, the species on the images is an unknown (to me) species/variety of jabo, that I've found localy, and these are cuttings from one seedling I have from that species; but also have one cutting of the Red Hybrid, that I suspect, is forming roots, and one of Eugenia stipitata, that is alive for more than 6 months. As soon as my Plinia phitrantha seedlings are big enough to take cuttings I will try with these too.

Greenman, If yours end up rooting, let us know.

New update on the Pitangatuba, that is putiing out a root sucker:

[Grapebush]

Here's a side by side, with the mother tree (left) and the rooted cutting, that confirms my theory that these develops faster than seed grown plants.

[tropical66]

Here's a side by side, with the mother tree (left) and the rooted cutting, that confirms my theory that these develops faster than seed grown plants.

Hi Grapebush,

Good job! I will try your method to rooting the Jaboticaba. Can I get from you some information. What is your everage temperature per year and the actual temperature in summer.
Thanks in advance.

cheers

[Grapebush]

Here's a side by side, with the mother tree (left) and the rooted cutting, that confirms my theory that these develops faster than seed grown plants.

Hi Grapebush,

Good job! I will try your method to rooting the Jaboticaba. Can I get from you some information. What is your everage temperature per year and the actual temperature in summer.
Thanks in advance.

cheers

Thank you for your comment and interest.

My average temperature trough the year is arround 18º (celsius), and in summer it goes usually from 23º to 28º, with some exceptions, where it can be slightly lower, or higher, up to 33º.

Cheers,
Nélio.

[tropical66]

Here's a side by side, with the mother tree (left) and the rooted cutting, that confirms my theory that these develops faster than seed grown plants.

Hi Grapebush,

Good job! I will try your method to rooting the Jaboticaba. Can I get from you some information. What is your everage temperature per year and the actual temperature in summer.
Thanks in advance.

cheers

Thank you for your comment and interest.

My average temperature trough the year is arround 18º (celsius), and in summer it goes usually from 23º to 28º, with some exceptions, where it can be slightly lower, or higher, up to 33º.

Cheers,
Nélio.

Thanks for the infos

Cheers

[Solko]

Congratulations, Grapebush, on your successes.

I have no idea why cuttings don't work for me. Inspired by this thread and the observation of the Plinia Prince that some myrtaceae root from leaf cuttings, I took a large number of leaf and of semi hard wood cuttings last fall. I had them on a heat mat in an incubator all winter and spring and not one of them took. Two leaves did indeed develop roots, but no growing tip. And all my cuttings failed.

It may be a specific ability of each separate species, or even cultivar to root from cuttings. Or one may need serious equipment, like for Feijoa cuttings.
Ugni's are easy to root for me, but all other Myrtaceae failed...

All the better to see someone succeed!