A friend of mine was sending some magazines to be recycled and found this article, which she thought might be useful, if I wanted to grow my own. (TREES, TREES!) It is a bit early in the season, but you can copy it and see which neighbors, friends or relatives have a plant you could get a cutting from, so you can start your renewable forrest.
Since it is from a magazine article I am going to give all the information I can, so as not to step on any toes if I can help it. Sorry I can't reproduce the drawings, will try to describe them at the end.
It is from Fine Gardening, Sept/Oct 1998, pg 12. (she was a little behind on her recycling)
Written by Joan Cunnington of Grimsby, Ont., Canada
Title: Propagate Sedum 'Autumn Joy' from stem cuttings.
"Although my reliable autumn performer Sedum 'Autumn Joy' self-seeds quite readily, and stem cuttings can be taken in summer to root in the fall, an 85-year-old neighbor told me about another easy way to produce dozens of new plants from just a few stems.
"I take cuttings to clone my 'Autumn Joy' just as the plants are starting to bloom. Instead of taking just the top four inches, I take the entire stem (a) cutting as close to the base of the plant as I can. I remove all the leaves and flowers, tie the stems loosely in bundles of six (b), and hang them upside down in a cool, completely dry place.
"In six to ten weeks, tiny-leaved plantlets appear in the leaf nodes toward the end of the stems (c). When the plantlets reach 1/2 inch long, I cut the stems into pieces between the leaf nodes. Each stem piece should contain a plantlet. I then transfer the stems to pots of sterile potting mix with the bases of the plantlets touching the soil (d), place the cntainers under fluorescent lights in my basement or in a cool greenhouse, and keep them moist. The plantlets gradually turn green and start tgrowing,and should be ready to go into the garden come spring."
The drawings show:
(a) shows the long stem cut just above the ground and just below the first flower "limb." Also, cut off all the leaves.
(b) shows a string tied around one end of the bundle, much as we hang any variety of plants we use to make trees from natural material.
(c) shows the plantlets sprouting from the stem.
(d) shows a short section of the original stem sticking down into the potting mix, with the plantlet right at the surface of the mix, some stem also above the soil. There appear to be fine roots coming from the bottom of each plantlet and tucked into the soil mix.
Like I said it is a little out of season, but if you are thinking of growing your own forest for your layout, club layout or just growing them for looks, sounds like a way to get a number of plants without spending a fortune. It will take until the fall of 2011 to get your blossom heads, but that will give you a chance to get your mountains in place and the understory of your forest ready.
I doubt that the variety makes a difference, but if someone knows that one or another variety is better for trees of our purpose, they can add a comment to this thread.
Have fun,
I cover the tree making process using sedum in this article at my webbie.
I like the results, but I LOVE the price!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Thanks Lee, very timely. I harvested a bunch of sedum from the garden last fall (with the chief gardener's permission ) and left them to freeze dry over the winter. I have been thinking about starting some trees and your methods look good!
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Hmmm, everyone I know harvests the sedum in the fall, I simply dip the plants in green paint, let dry, add a bit of yellow or orange to top leaves, paint the trunks brown or grey, the key is not to leave the stems too long.
Also I am surprised that there are no replies against using sedum for trees, a few people believe they do not represent actual trees, I find them perfect for hardwood forests
I harvest them in spring. this way they dry outside during the winter . No fuss and they are ready to process. For O gauge I use them as small backdrop coverage and bushes. The stems are not very real for foreground trees. Some versions of Sedum are better then others in that respect.
Bill D
model in O. the Western NY and Ontario Railroad