How to Grow Fruit Trees From Cuttings

Apple and pear trees can be grown from cuttings.

Rooting stem cuttings from fruit trees is a way to duplicate your favorite fruit tree. With cuttings, you get an exact copy of your favorite fruit tree without the expense of having to buy one from a plant nursery, and a greenhouse won't be needed. The growing environment can be created with a clear plastic bag. Two fruit trees that can be rooted from cuttings are the Delicious apple and the Bartlett pear.

Things You'll Need

• Clippers
• Knife
• Spray bottle
• Rooting hormone
• Rooting medium
• 8-inch flower pot
• Clear plastic bag
• 12-inch flower pot
• Potting soil
• Dishwasher soap
• Alcohol

Instructions

1. Take cuttings from a disease-free fruit tree. Take the cuttings on new growth at the end of the growing season. This new but almost mature wood is semi-hardwood.

2. Cut four 8- to 10-inch stems that have four sets of leaves each, using a pair of sharp, sterile clippers. Peel back the bark and remove the leaves from the bottom half of cutting. Mist the cutting with a spray bottle filled with water.

3. Pour rooting hormone into a small dish. Cover the bottom half of the cutting with the hormone. Leave the fruit tree cuttings in the hormone.

4. Fill a sterilized 8-inch plastic pot with a medium mixed especially for rooting cuttings. Mist the medium so that it’s moist but not dripping wet.

5. Poke four holes about 4 inches apart in the rooting medium, using a pencil. Remove the fruit tree cuttings from the hormone and place the cuttings in the holes. Be careful not to knock off the rooting hormone. Firm the soil around the cuttings by pushing down on the soil.

6. Place the pots with fruit tree cuttings in a clear plastic bag. Mist the inside of the bag, pull the bag up and around the pot, and fasten with a clip. The bag creates a mini-greenhouse. Check the bag daily for moisture. Mist as needed. Do not let the cuttings dry out

7. Place the pots in an area where the temperature stays between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and there’s bright, indirect light. Do not put the pot in direct sun.

8. Check the plant for roots after two weeks. Remove the fruit tree cuttings from the rooting medium after the plant has developed its roots. Plant the cuttings in 12-inch individual pots with potting soil. Keep the plants in individual pots until they are large enough to plant in the landscape.

Tips & Warnings

• Sterilize the cutting edges by pouring rubbing alcohol over the blades.

• Sterilize the pots by washing with dishwasher soap and pouring rubbing alcohol over the inside of pot.

• The cuttings may take a few days or a few months to root.

• Move the plants to the landscape when they are 1 to 3 years old.

• Don’t dip the cuttings into the container of rooting hormone. It will contaminate the hormone.

• The cuttings will dry out and burn under direct sun.

References

• North Carolina State: Plant Propagation
• Ohio State University: Plant Propagation