Franklinia tree

[Tmac12]

I have a limb almost broke off of my Franklinia tree. I would love to start some cuttings from it. Hubby suggested we dump dirt on it and leave it. That would work, but I see us falling over the limb when we get snow this winter. I was thinking my cloner might work, anyone know about doing this kind of thing. Also thinking about tossing some azalea cuttings in there too. Any ideas??

 

[Tmac12]

Oh, I should mention this tree is named for Ben Franklin, by the Bartrams. It cant be found in the wild. Mine is more like a large shrub than a tree.

 

[keninpain]

If you are wanting to take cutting from it. use the very ends of your branches and take soft growth cuttings 3 to 4 inches of the end. strip it of all the leaves except for a couple.
Clip strip and dip in root hormone and put them in your cloner. you should get good results.
Hope this helps.

 

[Tmac12]

I am soooo excited! Found a cutting growing roots in my cloner!!!! Looks like only one out of eight at this time. Thought I would show some photos of this tree. Hope you enjoy them!

 

[keninpain]

Thats awesome to here you got one to root. The blooms were fantastic looking in the pics. If you want to get more to root try different brands of rooting powders or even try a liquid root toner. I have found that when i tried playing with some cuttings from a mini jap maple to make bonzis some root toners work better than others. Why this was I don't have a clue. I found the best cloner was a homemade job I copied from mike Mcgroatys back yard gardening page. It was made from a fish tank. I get a lot of great gardening tips from the sight it free to whomever would like it. His whole gig is to sell his cuttings he makes in his spare time but never pressures you to buy anything. He just teaches you tips for you to do the same from your yard, on the cheap. I highly recommend it if you like to play with your plants. Please keep me posted on your propagations, I would like to see how they turn out.

 

[keninpain]

After reading more info on cuttings I found out some root powders are acidic to some plants, and that can actually inhibit root growth.

 

[Tmac12]

Hey Ken, I also a long time a go, (can look up the date) took some cuttings and sunk them in a 3 gallon pot full of sand and stuck them in the creek on our property. It was under a little waterfall so got constant water. We got in the creek today and climbed up to where I had the pot. It has at least 3 cuttings growing from what I can tell. I am thrilled with all this happening. Moved the home made cloner in the house today due to temps dropping. Still hoping for more clones in there.

We live with a creek running down from a mountain thru our 3 acres, we back up to US forest, nobody can ever buy property above us. We have cherry trees, blueberry bushes, wild grapes (great wine), bartlett pear tree, asian pear tree, blackberries, chestnuts, magnolias; bigleaf, saucer, star, a ??, and dog woods, black walnut, butternut. And many more... I think our soil is acidic. All of this was planted by the original owner (botanist maybe?). He also situated house on lot oddly, but after a year here we under stand, he placed it in the best spot for the seasons. Also put in a solar water heater. Not working now, but we hope to have a new system installed within the year.
Would you like a rooted Franklinia tree?



I have Clonex blue & red, gel rooting gel. I used the blue gel for these Franklin trees.

 

[Tmac12]

Thanks Ken, Glad you like my tree!! I am so excited!! One more thing! Part of what is great about this tree is that it does not bloom until summer is almost over. Right now I have blooms on that tree. And the leaves start turning red when it is blooming. All my other trees bloom in the spring.

 

[keninpain]

I would love one! I am not for sure if it would grow well in my area. I am in southern il. outside of st louis. No wonder you have been so blessed with such a nice place to be and live. Just the simple act of giving without expectation. If you pm me I will give you my contact info and we can go from there. And thank you for the offering.

 

[Tmac12]

There are at least 9 Franklinia trees growing in Illinois, per a census taken 1998-2000. Bartram's Garden - Franklinia Census Results Not sure this link will work. go to bartramsgarden.org.
Why dont you check out what it requires and see if you meet them. Its culture is similar to rhododendron; humus rich, acid soil with excellent drainage is required. They say wind protected, but ours gets a lot of wind off and on.

I will figure out how to PM in the mean time!!!

 

[keninpain]

I had no idea we had been talking of a tree that is so rare. If their is as many as nine in il. thats not a lot. I now feel very honored that you have offered me a propagation. I will have something to show off at the neighborhood botanical walk thats held buy SIUE. I don't have much to look at at my place but a small side garden. with a few grasses mostly weeds and a couple of shrubs With a beautiful mini jap maple. I am very very excited.
And as far as private messaging I am trying to figure it out also. I have never used a computer before I joined this sight. BUT SO GLAD I DID!!! I look forward to the PM. Thanks again Current state of mind

 

[MedicalNeed]

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[keninpain]

thank you medicalneed. Easy enough.

 

[Tmac12]

Thanks Med.

 

[keninpain]

Hi Tmac12,
I did get seeds from my jap maple but did not know how to store them. So sadly they have all dried up. I have had the tree for about 5 years and it has only sprouted seed once. But I have no problem shipping you a whole handful next time it sprouts. I read that they have to be stored in the freezer, so I don't know whether they should be cold shipped or not. If you know how to store them for shipping let me know and when it does sprout I will ship you all i get. I hope you got my info.

 

[keninpain]

While reading info on how and where to plant a franklinia tree I ran across a cool article named (Americas "first rare plant the Franklinia tree"). I found out just how rare it is and that all existing franklinia trees come from specimins at Bartrums Garden in Georgia. It was found along the Altahama river on Oct 1 in 1765. By barttrum and a partner whos name I forgot. What I also found is that the area they found the Franklinia tree, I also home to over 120 rare and considered endangered botanical specimins. I found that interesting. I also found that it is part of the tea family. I see why it is important to take softwood cuttings due to the short life of the tree 50 years and most the time shorter. though the specimins at Bartums garden are much older. I got to see the tree in all its different splendors with all the ranges of colors. very nice. I'm feeling so pumped to know that I am going to be part of a small community of people that have something no one else has. Thats a rarity in it self.

 

[Tmac12]

I had hubby pull up my bucket of cutting out of the creek today. We are getting nite temps into the 30's so want to get them in pots and into the shed. Left the pot just drain out today, they got some very lite sun and then shade. It is very shady in the creek. Need to get them adjusted. Tomorrow I will see what we have for roots. One actually has new leaves on it.

The cutting in the cloner are doing well. Have roots that I can see on at least 3, but the others are doing very well so suspect they are just growing a little slower. If I can locate my camera I will take a couple shots of them.

 

[Tmac12]

new leaves but no roots on this one.

I could not get some of the photos... hard when you have only one hand to hold them, one hand to take STILL photo, while misting water is squirting out!!

 

[TorturedSoul]

Good to see people keeping species alive. Shame it's extinct in the wild. Considering that the last verified sighting in the wild was in 1803, I guess there aren't any "lost groves" anywhere.

I hope that you have good luck with yours, that you can continue to propagate it, and that you keep us informed.

I was surprised to read that you had luck in the creek setting. Wikipedia (yeah, I know, not exactly proven to be 100% infallible, but...) states, "The Franklin tree has a reputation among gardeners for being difficult to cultivate, especially in urban environments. It prefers sandy, high-acid soil, and does not tolerate compacted clay soil, excessive moisture, or any disturbance to its roots. The Franklin tree has no known pests, but it is subject to a root-rot disease and does not endure drought well." Perhaps the fact that the moving water was much more aerated than just a "wet pot" would be helped offset things.

 

[Tmac12]

Hi TS, Thanks for coming by! I was probably lucky with the creek bucket. I took a 3 gallon basic nursery pot. It had large holes around the bottom. I filled it with small rocks from the creek and then mixed in sand. I measured down the pot to the soil level and put a row of holes in the pot so water would drain. Stuck it under a little water fall. At times the creek was a tiny river (after rain) . I just left it alone. A lot of the sand washed out. The ground around here seems to be more acidic with all we have growing here. The creek flows all year down from the US Forest Service land. Comes from springs high up there. We are at 3200 ft. The top of the ridge is about 4200 ft.