Wisteria Cuttings

Wisteria roots easily. There are many ways to take cuttings from Wisteria, and many times of year when it will work.

I like to use tendrils, and I take them in June because that works for both the plants and my schedule.  I slot in Wisteria right between Japanese maple cuttings and flowering apricot cuttings, around the time when I take cuttings from most other deciduous species.

You don't need many leaves for a cutting to work. A tendril like this can make 5 cuttings, and if the tip is stiff enough, I'd try 6.

So now you have something that looks like this.

The next step is to make it look like this.

I use trays like this. They allow me to get about 4" of depth for the substrate.

This year I've been using akadama fines for almost all of my cuttings, simply because I have so much of it left over.

When you're producing 10,000 cuttings per year, you try to save time where you can. I made this board with a bunch of dowels glued into it to help me quickly make holes in the substrate.

This way I know my holes are all the same depth and well-aligned. Ignore the plants — those are Toyo Nishiki Japanese quince.

I spent a few hours making that board with the dowels because I think it's important to make the holes in advance. Some species won't care too much, but others will — sometimes a lot.

Cut the tip of the scion into a wedge to increase the volume of cambium exposed.

Do not use scissors, as they will bruise and crush the cambium. Use a razor-sharp grafting blade, a box cutter, or even a razor blade. Use a slicing motion with minimal pressure.

I've always enjoyed testing things, and I feel somewhat responsible for doing so, since I have sufficient volumes of bonsai-appropriate plant varieties to run worthwhile side-by-side comparisons.

This year, for half of one tray, I exposed the cambium on the side of the cutting instead of cutting a wedge. I have no idea how well this will work — the idea is to increase cambium exposure and potentially get roots emerging from a wider area.