How long until fruiting for, say, lemons, limes, mandarins?

Cuttings will produce right away, if the tree you've taken the cuttings from has already reached mature node count. That's essentially how grafted trees are produced - from a mature tree, take cuttings, graft to rootstock - fruit immediately. Mike, I have not grown anything from cuttings, as I depend on my rootstocks to help protect my trees since the vast majority of my trees are in-ground. But, if you're going to keep things in a container, cuttings are pretty easy to do. Some cultivars are very easy to grow from cuttings, such as Improved Meyer. Most folks will remove some of the leaves, so you don't have too many leaves to support, dip in rooting hormone and put in a rather dense mix to keep the roots moist. Once roots have sprouted and you see some growth on top, (tiny flush), you can move to a more porous mix. How are you doing your cuttings?

Patty S.

I have and I got fruit with in the first 6 months. These are 3 low branches getting air layered.

This is the branch rooted and cut from the tree. I am very happy with how easy air layering is.

Steve

Do you think I can root CCPP budwood?

It is likely to be a waist of money. There are places you can find almost anything and it will be grafted to a good root stock. The meiwa twig below rooted successfully and then killed by pests.

Steve

Got back from CA 2 weeks ago. My parents live in So. Cal. Them have a Chinese grapefruit which they grew from seed from China. They've had it for 20-30 years and it' has never fruited for them. It flowered once and that is it. Of note, my uncle in N. Cal. also had some seed and his does fruit. Anyways, I took some cuttings from my parents tree and brought them back to OK. I cut the bottoms of them, left about 3 leaves on them, stuck them in rooting hormone and miconizzheal fungus and planted in 511 mix. I put them in a large clear trash bag, mist them and close off the bag. I let fresh air in the bag every 2-3 day. They've stayed moist so far so no more misting. Its only been about 2 weeks but so far they are still green. I keep my fingers crossed.

I'm hoping a change of scenery will help them fruit. If this works, I'll roots some for my parents and put it in a pot by the pool where it is nice and sunny. The location of their current tree is not good (clay and too much shade).

Wish me luck. Any advise would be appreciated.

I loose 3 out of 4 cuttings to spider mites. Keep a keen I out for these bastards.

Steve

Hi Mike, I rooted these , two Persian limes and one key lime . I took cuttings in early June , used rooting powder and put them in a peat, garden soil mix. Kept them outside under a peach tree without covering. About half rooted out of twelve cuttings. Honestly, I was not expecting much, but was happy with the results. Gave a few away already , and these will also be gifts. Lost one yesterday with all that rain we had. Take care, Kev.

While I did not do my own cutting, this Meyer lemon tree is the result of a rooted cutting.

Steve

I rooted about 8 Citrandarin cuttings. Harvested the wood in May and many rooted by July. I even had some root over a year later! Imagine that!

For rooting, I have a large plastic storage container filled with perlite/potting soil kept just moist. It sits outside in dappled shade and stays quite warm over the summer. This is where I do the rooting. I also use rooting hormone on the cuttings and reduce the number of leaves per cutting to only 2 or 3. Large leaves get cut in half.

Edit: Yes, the lid of the container stays on tight. It holds in heat and humidity. I usually have to sprinkle in some extra water maybe every couple weeks.

Here's a photo of last year's cutting that's bloomed already!

This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 9:41

Dave, do you cover the container?

Serg, hello...I would say It takes me a couple of months before they take and start to grow..But that is because I root them in spring when it's warm, not in the cold months of the year..I never tried over winter...

Dave, fantastic work...Yes it is that easy..Easier than people think..As long as they are kept warm and moist...
I love your idea, since I pretty much do the same thing...Great job.

Patty...Graet advice as always..You are right, especially in cutting the leaves off and back...Thank you and by the way, my Mom sends a hug your way and said that if you need more slippers, to let her know)

Steve, yours are getting pretty big, good job. I could never get a fig to grow from a cutting...Wow..I did stick one in the ground over the spring and it took!

Kev, great job..Isn't it fun, especially to see them fruit and grow that fast at such a size? I can tell you this...Try buying one at a local store of like Logee's..Expensive..You save so much money..
Keep up the good work.

Vanman..Good luck! They look fantastic..It would be nice if we could keep them in a humid environment for years to come..But they will be ok once you take the bags off for good)

Well, finally...Here are some of my cuttings..

An Orange tree, Calamondin, a Kumquat, Fikishu and Kaffir...Also a couple of visitors if you can se them.lol

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Hi Mike

Could you post a close up picture of the kumquat and another close up of the changshou. coul you also fill me in on your soil mix. While my mix works great for citrus trees, it does poorly for un-fortunella trees.

Steve

This post was edited by poncirusguy on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 17:32

Hey Mike,
Miss seeing all your great jades and plants on the cactus and succulent forum. Come back......
Sharon

Hey Sharon, what a surprise! That's so sweet of you.

How have you been? How's the plants?

Yes, I have been thinking of stopping by..I miss you all there too.
I barely spend any time with my succulents anymore..They still abound in growth and color too..I will see you there soon I hope..

I need to save my lime tree from gophers. This is an established old Bearss, so is it too hot now to start cuttings?

Every week more branches die and we can't find the gopher tunnels. The roots could have spread for a long way. The tree is old. Otherwise healthy.

We plan to try grafting onto a large lemon seedling that produces lemons so small and seedy it's hardly worth the trouble.

It's never too late if you live in a warmer climate Desertdance..

The key is to keeping your cutting in a very warm environment...I have even rooted some in warm pond water..
I would start now before it's too late.

I am so sorry to hear about your problem..

Mike

I'll get some started today.

Probably best to do the citrus in pots since they don't go dormant? I did olive cuttings in ground, and they are now big trees. We had to move them, and they suffered some shock, but are fine now.

How long should the cutting be?

From what I read above, leave 2-3 leaves on the branch and rooting hormone on the stem?

The photo shows the tree is full of limes. Even still some blossoms. It's hard to find a branch with no limes. They aren't yet ripe, but to get a good branch, I may have to remove the limes. I'm hoping the cutting will still root.

Suzi

This post was edited by desertdance on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 11:14

I rooted some budwood without leaves. We'll see what happens.

Stripped the bottom and gave it an angled cut. Dipped in rooting powder. Planted in small containers with medium weight soil. Put outside with a ziploc bag on top and a warming pad on the bottom.

Boukhobza blood orange
Buddah's Hand citron
Jincheng sweet orange

Will wait and see...

Isn't air layering easier than trying to root cuttings? Just tried my first one with a fig so maybe I should have seen if it takes before commenting.

Are the cuttings you are using fresh green wood or the older "woody" stems?

Anyone do this without rooting hormone?

Hey, Mike, another great Thread!

Yessir, you're very skilled at rooting citrus cuttings....you make it look easy! Those cuttings you rooted are excellent and vital. The frogs clearly agree, haha! I, too, can't wait for you to post some of your exotic Jade updates for us ;-)

Queenskitchen, I think fresh green wood is better for rooting, at least in my experience. The mature, hardened cutting I attempted to root wilted almost immediately.

Veggie girl, I rooted a lemon cutting without rooting hormone....but it took a long time. I didn't use a dome, bag, or humidity chamber of any type, so that probably slowed things down, as well.

This is the only cutting that I've successfully rooted - and it took 9 months!!! I was going to throw it out, but noticed a tiny root...so I potted it up, and now it looks alright, though a bit stretchy due to growing beneath a bench (didn't want the tender new growth to get blasted by the sun). This is a variegated pink Eureka Lemon. The cutting has bloomed twice during the rooting process.

My aunt will be visiting in November, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to give this cutting to her.

Josh

This post was edited by greenman28 on Sun, Sep 14, 14 at 18:44

If anyone has been following my other thread "Meyer lemon Air layer, help! " you are familiar with my story and our ranch meyer lemon tree. When I began the air layer process onto the tree I also brought home 6 cuttings to try aswell.
4 of the 6 cuttings died. 2 developed very good root systems. One has grown quite a bit of foilage while the other hasn't grown any. They have spend 2-3 months potted inside a bag and north facing window. 2 weeks ago I decided to pot them up and them outside for first time uncovered. They have been outside for 2 weeks. They seem to be doing well.

Both of them together

Rootstock cutting rooted
Trace

Variegated eureka cutting taken about 6 weeks ago - has grown 4 or 5 roots

eureka non-variegated about 2 years old: first fruit just visible at bottom

The parent (grafted) of the variegated cutting

A navel orange cutting had 3 roots on it from rooting I hope it makes it.
Trace

I've done a few citrus cuttings over the years, a few have died due to neglect.

But this is my 'best one' you can see another plastic bottle method one next to it.

My method is plastic bottle cut in half, peat, perlite, fresh cutting. Plonk cutting in moist soil put lid on leave until it fills with roots. :)

This post was edited by madferret on Thu, Oct 16, 14 at 3:42

Growing slow because of cooler temps I guess but looks like its going to make it. Looks like its trying to bloom lol.When it sets bb size fruit will remove it so I can grow.
Trace

my 7 yr old seedling of calamondin was getting very gangly, so i decided to air-layer and cut the top portion off.
it went very well. i posted in the thread earlier this past summer.
i started in may and here's a pic of it in oct - it's in a 1 gal nursery pot (half-gal in reality).

Here is a link that might be useful: air-layered citrus - see mine near the end