| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
This is the Way that Crazy People Prune Plants.
. . . and guess who the crazy person is?
Me. Mike McGroarty.
This is what I did that appears to be so crazy, but this is a great lesson in pruning as well as a lesson in Plant Propagation.
Golden Curls Willow
I bought this one plant last summer and planted it in the yard. My only purpose for buying this Golden Curls Willow in the first place was to use it as a stock plant that I could take cuttings from. When you grow and sell plants it’s extremely important that you know both the botanical and common name for all the plants that you are growing. This plant was clearly and properly labeled so I acquired it to use as a stock plant.
Since Golden Curls Willow are easy to grow as hardwood cuttings I went out during the winter and took a few cuttings from it.
What happens when crazy people prune plants.
Okay, so I took more than a few cuttings from it. I actually took every piece of wood that I could get without killing the plant. Most people would assume that I did kill it by cutting it back this hard. I did not kill it, it came back just fine and looks great now.
Golden Curls Willow tree after being ravished for cuttings.
I did that crazy pruning job last winter and I just took this photo last week. As you can see, the plant looks great and has been pruned at least once this summer. And what about all of those cuttings I took? They are beautiful little plants that will sell like hotcakes at $4.97 each this fall and next spring.
Golden Curls Willow trees growing in small pots.
After taking the cuttings I cut them into 3″ pieces, sticks really, stuck them in a flat in the dead of winter, I placed the flat outside in the cold and kept it watered as needed, which really wasn’t more than once or twice because of the rain and snow that fell over the winter. This summer we potted up the rooted cuttings and you can see them here.
I started with just one plant and I now have over 100 plants that I can get cuttings from this winter. Then come next spring I can sell all of the plants that you see here and I can take hundreds and hundreds of cuttings from the cuttings that I’ll take this winter. I know this sounds crazy, but that’s really how it works.
I did the same thing with this Dappled Willow. Look what I did to this poor plant.
Dappled Willow after being ravished for cuttings.
Again, I took as much wood from this plant as I possibly could because . . . “I needed the cuttings!” But you can see that first thing this spring it started making new buds and now each one of those buds has become a branch at least 18″ to 24″ long.
The cuttings that I took?
Dappled Willow plants growing in small containers.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that many deciduous shrubs can be cut back really hard when they are dormant and they come back just fine and that you can get a lot of cuttings from a single plant. Actually, You Can Start a Nursery with Just One Plant!
A Single Plant could Change Your Life Forever!
You can Earn up to $93.60 in one Square Foot in Your Backyard.
Questions or comments? Post them below.
Source: http://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2013/09/this-is-the-way-that-crazy-people-prune-plants/
