MAKING TREE CUTTINGS GROW

"Rooting" apple trees is hard to do. Most people propagte by planting the seeds or via grafting.

I have heard of people grafting branches from apple trees and then burying the gratfting after it had taken hold.

Sorry I can't be of more help here! Good luck and please send applesauce.

You could try layering. Pull a supple branchlet this years growth down and bury a node or two in the soil. Do this in late summer/autumn

or get peatmoss and wrap around a thin branch, cover this in plastic and tape the ends of the plastic so it doesnt dry out.

Air layering can be used to propagate large, overgrown house plants such as rubber plant, croton, or dieffenbachia that have lost most of their lower leaves. Woody ornamentals such as azalea, camellia, magnolia, oleander, and holly can also be propagated by air layering. For optimum rooting, make air layers in the spring on shoots produced during the previous season or in mid to late summer on shoots from the current season's growth. For woody plants, stems of pencil size diameter or larger are best. Choose an area just below a node and remove leaves and twigs on the stem 3 to 4 inches above and below this point. This is normally done on a stem about 1 foot from the tip.

Air layering differs, depending on whether the plant is a monocot or a dicot. For monocots, make an upward 1- to 1 1/2-inch cut about one-third through the stem. The cut is held open with a toothpick or wooden match stick. Surround the wound with moist, unmilled sphagnum moss (about a handful) that has been soaked in water and squeezed to remove excess moisture. Wrap the moss with plastic and hold in place with twist ties or electrician's tape. No moss should extend beyond the ends of the plastic. Fasten each end of the plastic securely, to retain moisture and to prevent water from entering. If exposed to the sun, the plastic should be covered. Aluminum foil can also be used, as it does not require twist ties or tape to hold it in place.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8701.html

The older the wood the longer it will take to root. Usually it will take a full year to get good roots started.

Heres another method (scroll to outdoor propagation techniques), however I think if cuttings are to be used planting into a box filled with river sand then covered in plastic will work better. (drainage is an important issue).

outdoor propagating

Dusting with rooting hormone powder or painting with a liquid will assist to develope better root systems.

Oh.. cutting into the bark in some manner is important with woody stems. Not so important with fresh seasons growth.

Im going to try the air layering and setting out with Rootone. Thanks, I go nuts for preserving old trees. In my one field at home Ive got a number of oak trees from historical sites that I grew freom acorns (monticello,Breeds Hill, Jamestown, Old North Church, Gettysburg, Antietam, Sutters Mill) I started these a bout 20 years ago and kept adding by planting acorns. Now most trees really have some decent caliper and My wife and I made markers. I think when I retire, Ill make a "sand walk" like Darwin had at "Down House". I tried some live oaks from Savannah and NEw Orleans and had no luck, (probably too far north)

I recall another method of propagation which involved using plastic to form sort of a bag around the joint you want to root. Fill the bag with soil of the right moisture content, and close both ends. I think a year is a reasonable time frame.

I have the feeling I havent' made this as clear to you as it is to me. Oh well, I've never tried the method anyway.

Last May I took some Hicks's Yew cuttings. Am just
showing one here as an example. A dandelion tool is
shown forscale.




They went into the ground at almost half their length.





As of today it looks encouraging. By close examination
you can see small buds on the main stem. Click photo to enlarge.




Will dig one up this spring to show roots.

Sounds interesting. We'll be waiting for updates...

One year my father planted the garden and cut a bunch of sticks off the apple tree to mark the rows. It was a very wet spring that year and every one of the apple sticks marking the garden rows leafed out and rooted. I'm not sure if it was just an amazing stroke of luck where all conditions were right but at least I know it is quite possible to root apple cuttings.