Help! I Just Brought Home a Truck Bed Full of Cuttings

ohiobruce

ohiobruce

Well-known member
A local grower gave me a Chicago Hardy tree this summer after he learned from a mutual friend that I was getting into figs. Later I mentioned that I wanted to root some in my classroom and asked if I could get a dozen or so cuttings when he pruned this fall.

Today he called and told me he was pruning today and offered to let me have the cuttings. It turns out that he had three trees in the ground and was cutting to about a foot off the ground.

So now I have all of these. But, I wonder if they will last in the refrigerator until I want to root them in late March? I really, really don't want to start now and try to nurse them through the winter in my classroom.

I also have a few sticks of Magnolia.

Thanks.
 

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That is SOOOO AWESOME!!!!

I’m betting those aren’t dormant though, so I would start your classroom planting. Pro tip: also make a lot of backups.

When I do plant workshops in a classroom, I’m always surprised by how vested the kids get in their plants, and they get very upset when theirs dies or doesn’t do as well, so I always grow backups. Interestingly, they are all good again when they get a backup, it doesn’t seem to matter as much that they didn’t start that particular one, lol.
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
That is SOOOO AWESOME!!!!

I’m betting those aren’t dormant though, so I would start your classroom planting. Pro tip: also make a lot of backups.

When I do plant workshops in a classroom, I’m always surprised by how vested the kids get in their plants, and they get very upset when theirs dies or doesn’t do as well, so I always grow backups. Interestingly, they are all good again when they get a backup, it doesn’t seem to matter as much that they didn’t start that particular one, lol.
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Yep, not dormant, but I'm hoping to make it work out. Maybe I'll start now and send the kids home with their tree and tell them to put it in a window?
 
Sanitize them with a mild bleach/water mix. Let them dry and store them in plastic bags(ziploc) in the bottom drawer of the fridge. Check them every few weeks in case any start to turn bad. You will be amazed how long cuttings can stay viable in the fridge.
 
How old are your students? Make it a class project for the students to root them. Once they are big enough, let the kids take them home until March and encourage them to keep a journal on the experience. It may instill the love of gardening. This could entail learning about watering, fertilizing, sunlight and growing food is no different.

When I was in kindergarten overseas, we students were given some Sweet Alyssum seeds to grow. I had to move and couldn't take the potted plant with me which was disappointing. I think that was my introduction to growing something. Here I am 60 years later with a green thumb.
 
LadyGT said:
How old are your students? Make it a class project for the students to root them. Once they are big enough, let the kids take them home until March and encourage them to keep a journal on the experience. It may instill the love of gardening. This could entail learning about watering, fertilizing, sunlight and growing food is no different.

When I was in kindergarten overseas, we students were given some Sweet Alyssum seeds to grow. I had to move and couldn't take the potted plant with me which was disappointing. I think that was my introduction to growing something. Here I am 60 years later with a green thumb.
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11 and 12 years old. I was planning on making it a class project, but start in March so they could take them home about Mother's Day,

But I like your idea about taking them home and keeping a journal. And I could help them with advice along the way. And supply some fertilizer if I can figure out a way to keep them from eating or flicking it in their classmate's face.
 
ohiobruce said:
11 and 12 years old. I was planning on making it a class project, but start in March so they could take them home about Mother's Day,

But I like your idea about taking them home and keeping a journal. And I could help them with advice along the way. And supply some fertilizer if I can figure out a way to keep them from eating or flicking it in their classmate's face.
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Idk about the flicking it in the face part, but a stinky organic fertilizer would stop them from eating it….. I hope anyways
 
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