Age?

[vicki]

Hi,
If you have a bush/plant that is say 5 years old and then you take cuttings, wouldn't you add the age of the 'mother' to the new rooted cutting? Seeing how it is the exact duplicate or 'clone' of the 'mother' plant the cutting would technically be 5 yrs. +.

Thanks!

[Jim Lang]

Technicly you are probably right, but that is not the way it works. New plant starts all over. That's just the way its done.

[Glen in BCz7]

Vicki-you're somewhat right about that. Cuttings of wisteria, for e.g., flower quickly coz they are mature plants " on the inside", while seedling wisteria can take 10 years or more to grow up enough to bloom.

This subject of "juvenility" as it's called is quite important in rooting many cuttings--young plants tend to root easier. Some varieties are perpetually juvenile-threadleaf cypress is an example, and it roots quite easy. Many trees root poorly coz the cuttings are from "grown up" wood--they say the growth near the base is always more juvenile than higher and farther out on a tree. As a result, nurseries grow trees as hedges, cutting them down constantly to keep the cutting wood growing from near the bottom of the plant=younger, more easily rooted.

Interesting subject. Lots has been researched and written on it--Glen