#cloning trees

So, you want to plant a tree. Maybe you don't, you're just reading this to humor me. Maybe you wish you has planted one 20 years ago and could have a big one today. But you would miss out on a baby tree! Watching a tree grow and cheering for her along the way is a bonding experience. And if you think years of waiting for a tree to grow makes it unsatisfying, the time will pass anyway. This way you get a tree.

After learning more about trees, I think seeds are the best way to go. When a new seed is created, it has mixed genetic material from both parent trees, meaning it's a part of an evolutionary process; it's growing a generation of trees that will be more resistant to diseases, pests, more adapted to environment, diverse, adding to the gene pool! All other methods are cloning the genetics of an already existing tree, and people do it to get a tasty fruit, a certain look or height or smell. It's done for the benefit of peope. Planting seeds, that's for the benefit of trees.

So how do you get a tree seed? Well it usually falls from the tree in summer or fall. For instance, acorns, chestnuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, they're all seeds. If you put them in a damp paper towel and leave them in a closed container, you have a high chance of them germinating and you can plant a new tree.

You could just plant a seed outside in the fall and it will come up in the spring; however you run a few risks there! Underground creatures might decide it's tasty and eat your efforts away. If there's a flood and the seed is sitting in water, it can rot. And if a tiny sapling does come up in the spring, a deer or a slug might snack on it. That's why trees make millions of seeds, they count on the ravage.

Planting it in a pot will resolve this and make sure you didn't forget where you planted it, unlike many squirrels. You can also carry her around and show her the world.

There are some seeds that won't just germinate easy; this is because they are working with nature and don't care for our pursuits. Some seeds say, I'll only germinate after the winter is over, and they wait to be cold before doing anything. Humanity has learned to hoodwink those by putting them in the fridge in a wet paper towel for a few months. Those are trees that are used to growing in cold areas, and the method of exposing them to the cold is called 'cold stratification'. You do it to apples, pears, cherries, walnuts, maple, pine. You don't need to put them in the fridge; if you have cold winters just put them in a pot outside.

Another type of seed has a coating or skin around it that stops it from germinating; this is because they use animals to get around the place. The seed expects to come through the digestive system of a creature, which melts the protective skin and the seed is the free to grow from animal poop. Humans of course, had to find a way around this too, but it was easy. Peeling or scoring the skin will free the seed. You do this to citrus seeds.

After you get your seed to germinate, the process is mostly the same; you put it in light and airy soil, plant twice as deep as the seed is wide, you water it so the soil is never dry, and you wait to see what happens. Once the tree sprouts give it as much light as you can and check what temperatures it likes. If it's native to your area, you can plant it out once it's as tall as you. If it's a warm-climate tree like a lemon, orange, kumquat or some tropical tree, you put it in a big pot and keep it inside once temperatures are freezing.

Other methods of getting a tree are taking a bit of an existing tree, making it grow roots, and planting it as a new tree, or gluing it onto existing roots and merging them into a new tree. Most commercial fruits are created this way; you need a genetically identical tree to make that exact same fruit. If you grow it from seed, you'll get a genetically crossed one, and it will taste different.

The first way to do this is called 'tree cutting'; you cut off a young shoot of a tree, put it into water with growth hormone for it to develop roots and you have a sapling! Willow tree is famous for having a lot of growth hormone within and she will grow roots and new trees if you as much as cut a few branches and stick them into the wet ground. You can grow a fence out of willows this way! Willow also grows rapidly if you want a tree quickly; I've seen one planted 5 years ago and today I can climb it. She has a lifespan of 70 years but it's still your entire lifetime. Black walnuts are also known for rapid growth.

Grafting takes growing a tree from seed but only to get a good root system. Once the sapling is big enough, you cut off the tree and attach a branch of the same (or compatible) variety, cut in the same way. You need a salve to heal the injury and a seal to keep it firmly attached. There's a 50% chance it won't work, but if it does, your graft will let out new branches and you'll have your tree growing the exact delicious fruit you want. Someone used this method to graft a bunch of different fruit branches on one single tree, making it grow different types of fruit, which is fun! Roses are often grown like this too, roots from one variety and a graft for a special color.

Now this last method I've never tried but it fascinates me. It's called 'marcotting' or 'air layering' and it takes a knife, a ball of dirt and a bag. You pick a tree whose genes you want cloned, pick a part of the branch near end of it, and cut off a few centimeters of the bark off. Then you tie your bag of soil around it, so that the exposed part is in the soil. You water it and leave it for a few months. The branch will grow roots in the soil you wrapped around it. After it's grown roots, you can cut the branch with the roots off and you have a new sapling. You can now plant this anywhere and get a new tree. And you can do this to any tree.

What a crazy thing to do!

So if you have a tree you like and wanna clone it, marcotting and cuttings work faster than growing from seed. But, growing from seed makes a new tree genetics, a fresh baby who might imprint on you and consider you their parent.

I recently found out another, less accessible way to clone plants in general, called 'tissue culture'. It's used to clone houseplants, especially rare ones, and you could make a new plant from just a little leaf or a node. Drawbacks are that you need a homemade lab and growing medium which you have to buy, so I'm never gonna try it. But good to know it can be done!

If you've been composting leftover fruit pits, early spring is a good time to check your compost pile. It's the first of March and I've found cherry and plum pits that germinated on their own during winter! If buried deep in the compost, they might not make it, but if you catch and plant them, you get baby fruit trees.