Tree Cloning Experiment Update February 24, 2021

The experiment is well underway!

We gathered branches from the following plants.

1. An Apple Tree - This is an apple tree that has been around for decades (possibly 100 years) on the farm I grew up on, just two miles away. It sends new shoots up as the old trunks become old and rot away. Given its age it certainly can survive the cold Minnesota winters!
2. A Rose Bush - also came from the farm I grew up on and continually sends new shoots from the ground. As with the apple tree it has proven it can survive Minnesota winters.
3. A Pear Tree - reportedly this tree originated from Poland. The trees I took trimmings from sucker trees that came off a larger tree located in Central Minnesota supporting it too can survive MN winters
4. A Crab Apple Tree - grew on its own on the edge of a field behind my property and therefore deemed to be winter hardy
5. A Cherry Tree - This one is a pure experiment as it was purchased from a green house and possible it was grafted.

There are a lot of different techniques that people swear by and others claim to be baseless myths. For example, trying to use potatoes. There are people who have demonstrated this works and others who have found it to be an epic failure. Some people just drop in some water and let nature run its course and others use either store purchased or homemade cloning machines. The cloning machines do use water as a growing medium but use a pump and air stone to oxygenate the water. In theory it should provide getter plant growth as plant roots do need to breath. Finally, we just used standard potting soil that is a mixture of peat moss and perlite.

We are testing all four methods with cuttings for each of these plants and the steps are nearly the same

Preparation

1. Collect tree branches while the plant is dormant, they should be six to eight inches in length and towards the end of the branch. Essentially you want twigs.
2. Start the clones as soon as possible. If you are unable to keep them in a cool dark place and trim the ends off before you put in water, soil, or a potato.
3. Dip the ends of the twigs in cloning hormone
4. Keep the clones in a high humidity environment, keep an eye out for mold which would indicate too high of humidity. I built domes for the plants.
5. Keep warm 72 F to 75 F.
6. Its recommended you spray the plants with water regularly to keep them from drying out.
7. It can take several weeks to months for roots and leaves to form.

Cloning Machine

Soil, Potato in Soil, and Standing Water Method