Hi,

I just bought 2 new dwarf trees, a calamondin and a pink lemon.
Today we examined the rootstock and we believe this is a rooted cutting not a seedling. I have never seen a cutting rootstock before, I was conditioned that rootstocks grow as seedlings.

Is using rooted cuttings common?

Can you compare seedlings and cuttings as rootstock? Is there any advantage or disadvantage on each other as a rootstock?

Flying Dragon, Poncirus trifoliata, C35, have you got cuttings from these treesand used them as rootstcok?

One more question, I believe if I use a cutting as rootstock, the final tree will be more dwarf, is it true?

Thanks,

Most people don't root Trifoliata because the seeds are plentiful. One fruit contains loads of seeds.

A rooted cutting is not likely to be any more dwarfing than a seedling of the same variety. Indeed, all aspects of performance should be identical, except for two areas:

1. If the parent tree had any of the common citrus viruses/viroids (tristeza, psorosis, xyloporosis, exocortis, etc.), rooted cuttings will also carry them, whereas seedlings would be clean.

2. In a strong wind storm (e.g., Hurricane Andrew or Katrina) a seedling, because of its taproot, may hang on and survive, whereas a rooted cutting, whose roots emerge at more nearly a right angle to the stem, is more likely to break loose and the top of the tree to blow away. It takes quite a major wind to do this on an established tree.

Thanks for your replies,

@Laaz, so, do people root cuttings because they can't find enough seeds of that rootstock variety?
I guess commercial nurseries can find enough seeds to develop rootstocks, when they choose to develop from cuttings, there must be an advantage to them, what do you think?

@Malcolm_Manners, in that 2 areas, seedlings has advantages, so why do people choose cuttings? May it be a matter of development time, do cuttings develop trees faster?

Have you ever noticed any difference when they become rootstocks?

Thanks a lot, this subject is new to me and I appreciate any reply

there are several reasons.

Some people who don't know that citruses can come true to type, are more confident with the surely true to type nature of cuttings. There are indeed rootstocks that have lower rate of true to type seedlings.

Some people are more confident with handling cuttings than seedlings, and indeed in some cases they grow faster than from seeds and are less thorny.

Some rootstock cultivars like C-32 would bear very few fruits with an average seed count of less than 1 per fruit, which means that some fruits have no seeds and cuttings seem to be the only faster way to use these rootstocks.

There are also some citrus cultivars when propagated via cuttings will have a good strong root system as the taprooted seedlings. Lisbons for example, I was surprised that they developed extensive root system given proper soil.


Still, i would use seedling rootstocks whenever I can get them. I would only use cuttings when circumstance allow me no choice.

Thanks JoeReal,

So, as long as we have seeds, you recommend to go for the seedlings.

Did any of you buy dwarf trees from FourWinds, do you know what rootstock they use for calamondins?

I'm dredging up this old post to see if there are new opinions/experience on using cuttings for rootstock ?

I have about 2 dozen rooted Seville sour orange cuttings that are starting to do pretty well. They've doubled in height to about 8-10" now and have been moved into 1 gallon rootmaker containers. They were rooted in March. The cuttings came from cut off branches from grafting I did on 2 year old Seville seedlings. I decided to root them out rather than start new seedlings for next year's grafting. I'm second guessing that decision now, as I've never used cuttings before as rootstock, although these cuttings look to be making good progress and should be at least adequate grafting size by next March.

My grafting experiments are just a hobby and each year only the best 2-3 end up planted in the ground at my place or at friends, so the outcome isn't any kind of priority. I have limited outdoor patio space for about 25 one gallon contains and maybe a dozen five gallon containers total for all my citrus experiments, so I can't really run multiple trials side by side. Any opinions whether the rooted S.O. will be inferior to just using seedlings ?? Cuttings are at least as easy as growing seedlings to the same size for me.

A second question - I obtained a couple of C-32 budwood sticks this spring and rather than graft them, I rooted them as cuttings. I want to experiment with C-32 rootstock as I've read it is better for the local Arizona desert conditions than C-35 or Carrizo. If there is no issue with using cuttings for rootstock, I could definitely multiply the C-32 into usable numbers of rootstocks by way of cuttings rather than wait for fruit and seeds. Are C-32 stocks more typically made from cuttings than other trifoliate hybrids ?

Third question - If cuttings work well for rootstocks of both S.O. and C-32, then the final mad scientist progression I've been thinking of is to inarch S.O. and C-32 rooted cuttings into one rootstock prior to grafting a top on it. Any thoughts or experience with something similar ? I assume that S.O. is probably the better choice to leave as the interstock to graft to ? Would it be a waste of effort or even detrimental ?

In europe only cuts are used as rootstocks.

The root system is just as good as from seedlings.

It is very important to get the exactly rootstock you need, which no seed can provide.
Therefore are in EU clone programs for rootstock cuts as well as for scion cuts.

No they are not. You don't have a tap root with a rooted cutting.

you need not a tap root.
rooted citrus cuts reach as deep as a tap roots.

that was prooved in very arid areas where the plants are not irigated and must reach the water in 15 - 30 meter under ground level.