As for that "swamp Basket oak" I can never seem to get ANY tree to grow there. It's RIGHT on the property line, and I can't help but think that maybe the neighbors are killing these trees. That Swamp Basket oak just died, it hadn't put on any growth for about 3 years, then it just withered away to nothing. Really, I've tried 3 different species of trees there, and NONE of them have lived. I tried to grow 2 different oaks And a Silver Maple, which I only planted because the neighbors had planted a row of them MANY YEARS earlier, and their trees had been growing well for many years. I have hated their Silver Maples, they drop branches and send out seedpods all through out my yard, but, I did like there to be a consistent row of the same trees. But, for some reason all of those new Silver Maples I had stupidly planted ( really just 3 seedlings) they all seemed to die for (who knows) some reason, I'm really glad they died, I don't really like Silver Maple trees. But, anyway, I will be trying a Sycamore again in my yard. The neighbor who has the Sycamore tree that I had planted years ago, when it was my property, his Sycamore had shed seed far enough into my yard to where I have a Sycamore baby (about 20 feet away from his mama tree) and so I'll be digging up this small seedling, and planting it in the place that I had once had a small Sycamore seedling years ago, but, the seedling died, and I had then planted a Chinkapin oak seedling there, but, THAT tree didn't grow well there. I know that it's likely this Sycamore seedling will likely not do well either, but, I have gotten this Sycamore seedling for free, and this is the place that I want a Sycamore tree to grow, so I really am hoping that once that I dump a good bit of natural fertilizer, and some new soil, which is from my pots that I had tried to grow some flower seeds in, maybe I could get a Sycamore tree to grow there. I also think, I need to spread some Garden sulfer there because we had buried a couple of horses and dogs there, and I seem to remember that LIME was used because my parents were told that you need to spread lime when you bury an animal. Our soil has been deemed PH 7 so nuetral, but, if you add lime where pets, some being big like Horses, and we'd had to bury at least 3 horses on my current property, so maybe there is Lime under the soil. But, really, if you haven't had to bury an animal, or know of there being Lime added to your soil, I would just say that if you smell something foul around your Plane tree or Sycamore tree, just post here and maybe we can figure out where and when these foul smells take place.

Do not under any circumstances plant a Sycamore anywhere near anything you want to not be destroyed by roots. Plumbing, sewer lines, concrete slabs, retaining walls...all will be destroyed by the roots of the Sycamore costing you immense amounts of damage. Then there is the leaf drop which after a fall windstorm can produce drifts of leaves many feet high, all of which are a fire hazard. Then there is the high allergen factor of Sycamore Pollen. Then the tree is also prone to rot on the inside, so that the tree falls on your house when you least expect it. What's worse is the tree is hard to kill even after you've cut it down, ground the stump, burned it, dumped round up on it, it'll still grow back. The only thing a Sycamore tree is good for is firewood and maybe woodworking. We recently bought a property with 7 Sycamores on it and so far they've cost us about $50,000 in damages. I've cut down half of them, the others will be gone by the end of the year.

I do something similar, but I use a big Rubbermaid container and put the cuttings in individual clear cups. Each container can hold 25 to 40 cups according to the size. I water the soil before sticking the cuttings and try to be sure it is not too dry or two wet, thin line between the two. Once I put the cups in the big container, I cover the whole thing with Plexiglas that I already had, because I got the containers really cheap but they had no lids. I try not to start looking in the big container for a week or two. I do not water the cuttings again unless the little pots look dry. I use a turkey baster to put a few drops of water in the dry cups when needed. Since it is a somewhat air tight environment, they might not ever need more water. The key is don't look in it too often, if you can resist! I have used this method successfully with roses, lantana, salvia, altheas, forsythia, etc. There are pictures in one of these chains of my system. I had Westerland rose root in 5 days, but usually takes 4 or 5 weeks. Once I see lots of roots, I begin to acclimate them. I have extra containers that I use for this as they don't all root at the same speed. The reasoning for using the cups is I don't have to up root them to transfer to pots. Oh, I usually use MiracleGro soil.

While the American ones are native to riparian areas here, the Mexican ones are better suited to landscape situations. They seem to hold up better to dryer conditions as well as better disease resistance. While this was an article in the Dallas newspaper, the same applies here:https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/2017/06/14/why-the-mexican-sycamore-is-better-for-texas-than-our-native-tree/. I can't find a link right now, but it sounds like many of the Mexican Sycamores being labeled as such are actually crosses between the American and Mexican. They apparently can still have the problems of the American ones. All that said, I never did find a true Mexican Sycamore and ended up going with a Mexican Mountain Maple, which has done quite well for me. I still find it very frustrating that it's so hard to find the real deal though. There's a few people in my neighborhood that have sizable ones. They're beautiful trees.