Tree Seedlings And Shrub Cuttings - Nursery Update - September 2023

One of the items (#16) on my annual to-do list was to keep working on 'seasonal tasks' and #24 was to 'try to get cuttings to root'.    I've been after a container-based tree nursery for a few years now and have posted about it from time to time.  The most recent post was this Summer.  I started in 2021 with Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds and seedlings.  Then, last year I tried with Limelight Hydrangeas.  And this past Fall/Winter, I went a little bit further.   I collected a variety of seeds (acorns mostly) and put them to bed in a damp sand container that I stashed in the fridge to simulate cold stratifying.  

After the Summer, it appears that I have birthed a handful of oak tree seedlings.  And, have seemingly kept the Kentucky Coffee Tree and Catalpa trees alive.  I've also succesfully rooted a Limelight Hydrangea and a Boxwood evergreen shrub.  

Below are a few photos showing the current situation.  First..the larger, 1# containers of two-year-old trees:

That's three (3) Kentucky Coffee Trees (on the right) and two (2) Catalpa trees (on the left).    Those are the larger, upgraded to 1-gallon container trees.  Below are the smaller ones that need larger pots.  There are 4 doubles - 8 total tree seedlings in these smaller containers.  

I should have upgraded those Kentucky Coffee Tree seedlings earlier this Summer, but it should be something that I do this Fall.

The Oak tree seedlings have filled up a tray, too.  Below, you can see the current state of these four-month-old seedlings.  Based on the foliage, these appear to be a mix of Chinquapin, Burr and Swamp Oak seedlings.  There are nine of them of varying sizes.

The other part of this is rooting some shrub cuttings.  The Limelight Hydrangea that I started last year has grown quite a bit - below you can see the current one-year from cutting stage:

And...the one new one for this year - is a Boxwood cutting.  It appears to have rooted and survived the Summer.  

While there's more work to do (more cuttings, more seeds, upgrading containers), I'm pretty happy to see these coming along.