University of Nebraska Extension - Holt/Boyd News Column for the Week of February 18 2024

Yard and Garden: Hardwood Cuttings

Plants can be propagated with several different methods. Many trees and shrubs in the home landscape can be propagated by hardwood cuttings. This type of propagation uses shoots of the previous year’s growth to produce new plants. In this article, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach horticulture specialists answer questions about propagating by hardwood stem cuttings.

Trees propagated from hardwood cuttings include many conifers, poplar and willow. Shrubs propagated using this method include blueberry, dogwood, elderberry, forsythia, hydrangea, rhododendrons and viburnum. Vines propagated from hardwood cuttings include bittersweet, Boston ivy, grapevines, trumpet vine and Virginia creeper.

Propagation is a great way to produce more of a wanted plant or to preserve a variety or cultivar with a specific form, color, or size. However, some plants are patented and vegetative propagation on many of these cultivars is prohibited.

Cutting materials should come from growth that was a shoot in the summer and has hardened off over winter. This is often referred to as one-year-old wood.

Cuttings from trees should be selected from specific locations on the plant. Shoots from the juvenile zone, which is the interior and lower part of the tree, are the best for hardwood cuttings. While this area is not the youngest part of the tree, it is juvenile in the sense that it generally does not produce flowers. Cuttings from this area are more likely to root. Select materials that had vigorous growth the previous season and thin, non-flowering buds.

Epicormic shoots (water sprouts) are often suitable for propagating because they are juvenile tissue with vigorous growth and are unlikely to flower. Use caution when selecting suckers from below ground or at the base of a tree as propagation materials. While these tissues are juvenile and similar to epicormic shoots, many trees in the landscape are grafted, and the suckers from grafted trees are likely from the rootstock and are not the desired cultivar.

Material for hardwood stem cuttings should be collected in late winter when the plant material is dormant. In Iowa, the best time is late February or early March.

Cutting materials also can be taken in late fall or early winter after plants have gone fully dormant. This cutting material will need a cool treatment before being rooted. Store cutting material in moist media in a cool area (~32-40 degrees Fahrenheit) away from fruit, since the ethylene produced from fruit can have a negative effect on the cuttings.

The length of most hardwood stem cuttings varies and is generally between 3 and 12 inches with a diameter ranging from ¼ to 1 inch. Cuttings with terminal buds are important in some plants, but for most easy-to-root plants, one long stem can be cut into several shorter cuttings. Each cutting should have at least two nodes. The bottom cut should be made just below a node and the top cut ½ to 1 inch above a node. (A node is the point on the stem where a leaf bud is attached to the stem.)

Using a bypass pruner, collect the appropriate-sized cutting material from the juvenile zone of the tree in late February or early March. Be sure to keep all stems oriented in the same direction, as stems stuck upside down will not root.

Dip the base of the cutting into a rooting hormone. Insert the base of the cutting into the rooting media. Ensure that at least one bud/node is below the media and at least one bud/node is above the media. A rooting media of coir or peat moss-based mix with coarse perlite in a container with drainage holes is best. Lightly firm the material around the base of each cutting and water the rooting media. Let it drain for a few minutes and pour off any excess water in the saucer or tray to avoid saturating the media.

Covering the cuttings is generally not needed since they are dormant. Place the cuttings in bright light, but not direct sunlight. Inspect the cuttings daily. Remoisten the rooting media should it begin to dry out. Be sure not to overwater. Rooting should occur within six to eight weeks.

After gathering the cutting material, bundle the cuttings together (placing all the tops in one direction) and secure them with twine or rubber bands. Place the bundled cuttings in a plastic bag containing lightly moistened sphagnum moss or wood shavings. Store the cuttings in the refrigerator. Placing the cuttings in the refrigerator keeps the cuttings in a dormant state.

In early spring, as soon as the ground is workable, remove the stem cuttings from the refrigerator. Take the cuttings out of the plastic bag, dip the bottom of each cutting in a rooting hormone, and plant them in the ground. When planting the cuttings, make sure their top ends are pointing up. Completely bury the cuttings within an inch or two of the top bud. For many home gardeners, a good planting location would be at the end of a garden, as the site would be convenient and easy to maintain.

A consistent moisture supply is crucial to successfully rooting the cuttings. After planting, water the cuttings regularly in dry weather. Rooting should occur within six to eight weeks.

Inventorying Remaining Forage Supply

Extreme January cold temperatures and high snowfall challenged many livestock producers. However, Groundhog Day (Feb. 2) pegs the mid-point of winter, so now may be a good window of time to inventory your remaining winter hay and forage. Remember, you can’t effectively manage what you do not measure.

Whether you have enough hay and forage to last the remainder of winter may depend on weather factors beyond your control, such as heavy snow cover impacting pasture grazing. Also, it may be difficult to predict if more severe cold conditions will occur in the remaining two winter months.

When making your feed management decisions, consider using best-case and worst-case scenarios. Focus on completing a thorough inventory and account for all feed resources, even counting total bales available. Calculate remaining bunker silage. Also, estimate remaining available forage grazing and assign economic values.

Compare what feed resources you have versus what your herd may need. For example, a 200-head lactating herd with average cow sizes of 1,200 pounds will need about 3.2 tons of hay per day (not accounting for waste).

Focus on making the best use of your feed resources. Would it be financially beneficial to sell surplus highest quality forage and feed the rest? If the remaining winter is mild, then selling your higher value forage could generate more cashflow toward paying taxes and land payments. On the flip side, if your feed reserves are too low, you may need to intentionally cull your cow herd and/or buy more forage.

If your cows are thin, consider the opposite - sell your lower quality forage and feed your higher quality. Thin condition score cows need more protein and energy to keep from dropping body condition and maintaining their milk production.

Source: Todd Whitney – UNL Extension Educator (CropWatch – February 6, 2024)

Bull Evaluation & Selection

Spring sale season in the Great Plains is in full swing. This is when seedstock producers get to showcase their program's progeny, and buyers can acquire bull power for the upcoming breeding season. The primary purpose of buying bulls is to improve herd genetics through an outside seedstock producers’ breeding program. Since nearly all herd improvements over time are a deliberate effort through purchased bulls or modern technologies such as artificial insemination, genetics are instilled in a herd through new bulls. Proper selection of bulls is a paramount decision for cow-calf operators.

Finding the correct bull is the quickest way to improve a commercial herd. The process of purchasing a new bull should begin prior to pulling a trailer to a local sale and picking through the catalog while eating the provided meal. It requires a systematic approach to identify genetic priorities that will enhance genetic progress within the herd. The following are factors that should be considered when selecting the next sire.

• Begin with the end in mind by establishing specific production goals and select sires that complement the needs of your cow herd and work toward meeting your personal marketing goals.
• Do your homework to evaluate Expected Progeny Differences (EPD) performance pedigrees and data.
• Never purchase a bull without a breeding soundness exam (BSE) or knowing the terms and conditions of purchasing a sire. (ex. Seller retains part interest in bull)
• Sires that increase fertility, number of calves born alive, add growth while improving the maternal strength of cows should be considered a sound investment.

Do NOT hone in on one specific trait or EPD. Remain cognizant of a wide variety of production traits to be successful in marketing weaned calves or retaining through finishing. Traits such as milk, carcass, birth, weaning, and yearling weight should be prioritized to a specific marketing program, but it is important to remember that adding too much of one trait can negatively affect other traits. A couple of examples of this would be pushing terminal traits and decreasing fertility and structural soundness or focusing on breeding low birth weight calves that then lack growth through maturity and their terminal end point.

My grandfather always said, “Quality remains long after the price is forgotten,” and this should be a consideration when purchasing bulls. An inexpensive bull that does not excel in specific traits of importance and is purchased with the sole purpose of getting cows bred likely will not make your herd more profitable. However, over-spending on a bull that will not return profit is just as counterproductive. Therefore, it is important to find a middle ground on purchasing bulls that will return profit while meeting your needs as a sire.

Source: Connor Biehler - Nebraska Extension Educator (BeefWatch – February 16, 2024)