Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: partisangardener on December 09, 2015, 03:12:22 PM
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In another forum I had to write about this. Maybe other people would like to have them on their own tree within reach ;).
After some education from a gardener in a Botanical Garden I grew successfully this half parasite on my trees(it produces its own sugar from the Sap the tree provides).
If you have fresh seed in March maybe weeks earlier, squeeze the little green embryo onto a twig or small branch of a suitable tree with very young smooth bark.
For the species which grows here on leaf trees the following trees are suitable, there is another species which grows on fir or pine it won’t grow on leaf trees.
Apple poplar linden and willow species, not as good is robinia, birch and oak takes very rarely. I saw them on Maple and rowan tree too an other trees might work.
After squeezing the embryo to the bark, swaddle some of the sticky snotty stuff which will stick to your finger and the berry around the twig, sometimes you must smear it on. This holds the little embryo in place.
Branches with thicker bark won’t take because the tree has to grow over the little Sucker (sometimes two) which will come out in the first year.
If it has two suckers it looks like a little dark green heart. The seed is in fact a little embryo which needs light for photosynthesis. In the second year will appear the first pair of leafs. The little suckers are now linked to the sap flow of the tree and you wont loose it easily. Even if you take everything of the green part it will regrow from the part below the bark.
Every year there is another doubled set of two leafs at the end of each pair, with a little green stick in between. After seven sets you might expect the first flower. Which is in fact quite easy overlooked. If it’s a female plant you will see developing berries in the summer.
The growing cycle will show you the age of the plant easily.
I did it quite often and have always some success. If you do it now, the rate of taking is much lower, than in February /March. But you will loose two third of the little embryos on average in normal conditions.
If you have branches with berries keep them outside in the sun and cold. Some netting will be advisable or the birds will do the work. ;)
Usually the birds will start to feed on this berries in February March. This is the optimum time for seeding. Keeping them outside in the cold and sun they will store easily till this time what little light will go through the translucent berry is enough for photosynthesis. I have not tried to deep freeze them it might work but I doubt it.
Sorry I am no native speaker and could not do it better.
Hope you will enjoy.
9
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I understood that perfectly well 8) I am not surprised that March is the best time to try this - if it is when the birds prefer to eat the berries they must be at their "best" at that time.
I don't think I had realised before that the embryo needs light to grow. Useful information. 8)
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One time I tried to minimise the losses and wrapped some sticky paper to keep them from being washed off by the rain until they put out their little tendrils
None grew all died under this protection. It was quite damp underneath, the water went in easily but most of the light got blocked out. :P
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At this time of the year I can walk just a few minutes from home and see very many leafless trees supporting growths of Mistletoe; Viscum album. Most are well above house roof height but in some areas they are lower and easy to see. In my own garden in an old Bramley apple tree I have a large growth that I walk into when cutting the grass, but unfortunately it is male so no berries. A few years ago I collected some wild berries and rubbed them onto other trees in the garden; and I now have some small shoots on two trees. What sex they will be is yet to be discovered. The “plants” more or less double in size each year.
Would it be possible to graft female stems from berrying plants onto my male plant, so I get some berries on it?
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Grafting onto the green visible part did not work with me. The cut parts never merged and both dropped off quite soon. But on second thought you might try to use the swelling under the apple bark. Either as base and'/or source.
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I was pleased to read the piece on growing mistletoe as I have tried a few times in the past - unsuccessfully. I have a seedling quince tree in a (large) pot and will have another go next year. Also, some years ago there was a travelogue article in the AGS magazine which included a picture and notes on a red berried mistletoe. I think the location was in the eastern Mediterranean so it may not thrive in the UK but what a commercial winner it would be. Perhaps some more global warming might be a benefit after all.
Thanks partisangardener'
Jack M
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Optimum time should be march for European species. So you have time this year for another go.
The development of the embryo in the berries is then at its optimum.
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I also tried this in 2019. Success with the white-berry mistletoe (Viscum album)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AMWts8CU4Ww4YyQaEirKqZa9qtBhTMDeZJPMLXdtf8zTlZsgBuyY2_YDtw5QoST3SsCXoJ8UtGImEVDL3NAFLNXqqkMqo5-1LfHnkiOjdXJK2dpKCYgu7d2iKEfcw5R6pHdfczOTSRrpbIwcerG5bKy2XlpHjA=w634-h313-no?authuser=0)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AMWts8DsU-enViDNnpHFqKP1kfVfK3S1A61BGGuXggU9AprA_lIEpFe0l1NcnHIbD-AbL8Bi2-Neqv0TdGr3phiKA78bCtahtsRC2NjzzLbRYueat_DcufJBrkBDvmqry9NK5pzHC0t3boPx2mUZCDZNE4nOsA=w634-h313-no?authuser=0)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AMWts8BS7X1af2iP-8yp8jrI6Wyb7wsHZV3eHL_V0dMOhAiUDzHxMkE1yXeJIJpan357WUesmJjC-8BwOkFFxGndz5G7EB1lnz7Nf-TWIt6hhRnudA5Xmzn5LcPYSPee9XeUOhKNWjgB3h0ASwxJ-0dlFwCwhw=w634-h313-no?authuser=0)
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Most articles I read suggest waiting until late February - March for ripe berries but here the plants are devoid well before that. The birds eat them. None accessible around here now. I have noticed the adventitious shoots emerging from berries on branches before but not sure they all result in plants, and one of my young plants seem to be not where I might have put the berry so it may not have been me.
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I found two large bunches of Mistletoe in a tree at Doncaster. Within two weeks of passing the record on the council had the tree cut down.
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I started this above attempt in May 2019.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ccd5PU9bF6My61kW8