Six ways to get free plants
When we purchased our site in 2017 we already knew that we wanted to cover it in trees. We also knew that buying enough trees to cover our 2.4ha site through retail channels would add up to a figure that would throw all but the biggest budgets out the window. Especially if we wanted to grow a substantial number of fruit and nut trees. While growing your own food is often seen as a money saving process, anyone who has tried to buy a name variety walnut or avocado will know that obtaining the plants to grow that food can come at an eye-watering cost.
So what are the options? How do we surround ourselves with beautiful, productive trees without blowing the budget?
The answer – learn to grow them ourselves. While turning your backyard into a plant nursery isn’t an option for everyone, most plant propagation methods can be done on a small scale in a tiny apartment and if you have more time than money, they can all be great ways to fill even the biggest garden. So here are the 6 main methods we use to grow our plant numbers without pruning too much off our bank balance!
Grow From Cuttings
What is the process?
Essentially, taking a plant cutting is just taking a piece of an existing plant, putting it in new soil and waiting for it to grow into a whole new plant. Of course for most plants it isn’t quite as that easy, although the process is relatively simple. We take most of our cuttings is winter when deciduous trees are dormant and evergreen trees generally aren’t in a growing phase. The cooler, moister weather also helps prevent the cuttings from drying out before they form new roots. Sections of last season’s branch growth are pruned from the parent plant & cut into pieces approximately 15-20cm long and containing at least 3 nodes. The cuttings can then be dipped in rooting hormone & placed directly in soil. We don’t use commercial rooting hormones but do soak our cuttings in willow water for 24 hours prior to placing in our cutting beds or air prune trays.
From there we leave the cuttings to do their own thing & form new roots underground. Some plants will also grow new roots if you simply place a piece in a glass of water. Tomato suckers are a great example of this – just put one in water on the kitchen bench & watch what happens!
Is it easy?
Some plants are easy, others are hard. Evergreens can be challenging as they always have leaves & can run out of food/water supplies before new roots get a chance to develop. In this situation misting plants or keeping them in a humid environment (plastic bag) can be useful & increase chances of success. At the other end of the scale are plants like figs, willow, elderberry & currants which are almost fail proof when it comes to cuttings.
What do we propagate from cuttings?
A lot of our fruit trees, berries & herbs will grow from cuttings – peaches, plums, elderberry, rosemary, figs & grapes have all grown well for us. We’ve also managed to get a few apples to grow from cutting too. In terms of non-edibles, willow, poplar, roses and even Kotuktuku (our native tree fucshia) will all grow from cutting.
We have our failures too though – no luck yet with feijoa or citrus – apparently it can be done but we prefer other methods for those.
Grow From Seed
What is the process?
Growing from seed is how most common plants reproduce in nature and that makes it one of the most common ways for the home gardener to also propagate new plants. Seeds are produced by the plant after flowering and are often contained within some kind of fruit or seed head. Generally it is just a case of collecting the seed and then sowing them into a suitable soil medium at the right time of year. For most seeds a generic seed raising mix in spring will do the trick.
We tend to collect a lot of our own seed from plants we already have, especially when it comes to natives and vegetables. This can help ensure we get new plants that are accustomed to our climate & conditions. Growing from seed also helps with genetic diversity as the offspring will always have slightly different genetics to the parents. Most plants will produce seed naturally if allowed to. For some vegetables you will hear the phrase ‘letting them go to seed’ as often the harvest of the vegetable itself prevents the plant from producing seed. Things like broccoli & lettuce are a good example of this so if you want to collect seed for next year, leave behind a veggie or two & let them continue their natural life-cycle.
Is it easy?
Growing most things from seed is relatively easy since that is how plants reproduce anyway. Some seeds do have special requirements that come into play if they are not subjected to normal environmental conditions. Some seeds for example need the cold of winter in order to sprout in spring. This process is called stratification. Unless you want to leave your seeds outdoors all winter, you can replicate these conditions by keeping them in the fridge for a few months. A lot of fruit trees like apples and peaches come into this category.
Other seeds, often legumes like kowhai & tagasaste, have hard outer shells that benefit from a process called scarification. There are numerous methods for doing this but the one we use most often is to pour near boiling water over the seeds and leave them to soak for 24 hours prior to sowing. This softens the seed shell & makes it easier for germination to take place.
What do we propagate from seed?
Almost all of the vegetables we grow are started from seed – the only real exceptions being garlic & some of our shallots. All of our native and nitrogen fixing trees are also grown from seed except for Kotukutuku which grows from cuttings as well as seed.
Fruit we tend to grow from seed less often and this is due to the genetic variability that can occur. Seed creation generally requires two plants and there is no guarantee that the seed will have the same genetics as the parent the fruit came from. This is particularly true for apples although we do have a few apple seedlings that we will be growing just to see what the fruit turns out like – you never know when you might stumble upon the next best apple variety! Same goes for things like growing avocado & citrus from seed/stones. It may take a long time to fruit & the results may not be what you expect but if you have the space it doesn’t hurt to try. If the fruit is awful, there is always the option to graft reliable variety onto the tree instead.
Some fruit is fairly safe to grow from seed though – especially berries & peaches. We grow alpine strawberries & goji berries from seed with plans to try cape gooseberries, bananas & a few other things in the near future
Collect Wild Seedlings/Self Seeded plants
What is the process?
Following on from growing things from seed, there is the less labour intensive option of just letting nature do it’s thing and collecting the resulting seedlings! A much easier option if you aren’t looking for a particular variety or species.
Is it easy?
Collecting seedlings is about as easy as it gets. The hardest part is knowing what the seedlings look like for any given plant (this is where a plant id app can help). A good place to start is where you know the plant is already growing or has grown in the past. For example if you had tomato plants in a particular spot in the garden last year & some of the fruit was left to drop, chances are you will get seedlings appear in that spot next spring. Or if you have a cabbage tree nearby & suitable ground conditions you might find some wild seedlings appearing. This method tends to work best with more ‘low maintenance’ gardens & landscaped areas eg. where areas are mulched rather than lawn that gets mowed & where weeds are hand pulled rather than having everything dug over or sprayed.
Home produced compost can also be a great source of random seedlings – just this year we’ve had 2 apple seedlings, 4 avocados & 3 butternut squash all grow from compost. Areas of existing bush can produce an abundance of new seedlings, just make sure you are allowed to collect them before you go digging them up!
What do we collect as seedlings?
A good percentage of our vegetable garden comes from self seeded plants. Things like coriander, dill, parsley, kale & tomatoes make great candidates for planting once & then never having to worry about planting them again. In fact, I’ve only ever planted tuscan kale twice, once in each of two gardens. From then on, it self-seeds & repopulates on it’s own. We also find manuka to be easy to source on our site – the single tree we had to start with consistently produces 6-12 new trees each year with zero input from us. All we do is collect the seedlings and plant them out in new locations. With some of those seedlings now old enough to produce their own seed, we are hoping to have even more to collect each year.
Other plants that we’ve seen produce seedlings on their own – Cabbage trees, rewarewa, kotukutuku, karamu, akeake, mahoe (a lot of natives really), peaches, tagasaste, passionfruit.
Split existing plants
What is the process?
Some plants, especially those that grow from bulbs or have ‘clumping’ growth habits can be split into new plants on a regular basis, often every year or two. If plants are good candidates for this process it is often easy to spot as the bulbs or plants appear to almost divide themselves. For example one clove of garlic grows into a bulb containing multiple separate cloves that can all be replanted. Lemongrass will produce multiple new stalks every year from just one stalk – these can be split year after year to produce more & more plants.
With some plants it’s even easier, almost to the point of being a nuisance. Plants like Comfrey & Jerusalem artichokes will grow from a small piece of root fragment so it’s as simple as digging up the roots of an existing plant & breaking a piece off!
Is it easy?
With many plants of this nature, the process is very easy – simply dig up the plant & split where it seems natural to do so. If it is a plant (rather than a bulb), ensure that each new section of plant will have it’s own roots before dividing. Generally speaking the best time to split most plants is when they are dormant or not actively growing. This is especially true for bulb grown plants. We also tend to split flaxes & grasses in the winter when growth is slower. The exception to this is lemongrass which we tend to split in spring when the weather is warmer & it can recover more quickly.
What do we propagate by division?
Bulbs – garlic, shallots, daffodils. Flaxes & grasses. Lemongrass, rhubarb, Comfrey and sometimes unintentionally – Jerusalem artichokes. Usually we just plant the whole tubers out (which in turn leads to more tubers) but often a spade will split the tubers & create even more new growth. Even where we don’t necessarily want it.
Layering (Stool layering or Air Layering)
What is the process?
Layering is a common method of propagation, particularly for fruit trees. It is a bit like growing a plant from a cutting but without taking away the support is gets from the parent tree. It generally involves placing soil or other growing media around a portion of stem that contains nodes. As nodes are growing they decide whether to become roots or leaves – if they have light, they become leaves but if they are underground they can become roots instead.
In the case of stool layering, soil is mounded around the base of a plant that has new growth from the base. The base of the new growth stays in the soil & forms it’s own roots while still being attached to the parent plant. This is commonly used to grow rootstock for grafting fruit trees and is also useful on plants like currants & hazelnuts that tend to send up a lot of new growth from the base of the plant. Once the individual stems have their own roots, they can be cut from the parent plant & planted out on their own.
Air layering follows the same principles but instead of creating the new roots at ground level, soil is packed around a branch in the air and held in place with some kind of container or wrap. Usually the bark is removed from a portion of branch before being covered with the soil. This exposes the cambium layer & increases the chance of new roots forming. This video here has some great tips on how to try it.
There are other methods of layering too but those are the two that we use here.
Is it easy?
The idea is simple but it does take a bit more work than many other propagation methods. Stool layering is quite simple, especially with the right kind of plants. Rosemary for example will easily form roots on stems that are just touching the ground. Stool layering rootstocks for fruit trees takes a bit more work & knowledge of growth habits. Air layering is probably the most complex due to the removal of the bark layer.
What do we propagate by layering?
We use stool layering for most of our root stocks – currently apples, quince, feijoa, citrus, plums & peaches. In the future we will likely use the method for other rootstocks as well. We also use it for rosemary & lavender. The next things we will try it with are currants, gooseberry & some of our mineral accumulating shrubs.
We have just started air layering this spring on a number of trees to see what it works best on. Ideally we will use it to supplement what we grow using other methods & hopefully to propagate a number of trees that don’t do so well from cutting. We will be trying it out on figs, olive, carob, kotukutuku, makomako, peaches, apples, feijoa & citrus to give us a good spread of results.
Collect Runners/Suckers
What is the process?
There isn’t really much of a process for this one. There are a number of plants that like to replicate themselves by sending up runners or suckers at some distance from the parent plant. These new plants form their own root system while still attached to the parent (similar to how layering works). They can then be detached & relocated. Some plants like strawberries send these runners out above ground while others like raspberries spread underground.
Is it easy?
This is another one that is incredibly easy. In fact many suckering species are considered to be quite invasive so you can often get the suckers for free as people dig them up to get rid of them. This is how I got my first ever raspberry plants. You can also often get strawberries this way.
What do we propagate by runners/suckers?
Most of our strawberries and all of our raspberries & boysenberries are propagated in this way. Our elderberries also grow in this manner, although we also propagate them by cuttings as well as by removing the suckers.
While these are the main methods we use in the nursery to propagate new plants, there are a few other methods to try if you want to expand your garden for free (or cheaper than buying retail).
- Grow new plants from kitchen scraps eg. Collect Seeds from capsicum, pumpkin, tomatoes. Grow tops/parts of onion, carrots – while these won’t produce new veggies, they will produce seed. Potatoes, kumara that are no good for eating can be planted or can be sprouted to create multiple new plants. Even avocados, pineapples & all sort of other things will grow from the parts leftover once you’ve eaten the good bits!
- Buy cuttings to graft onto rootstock. Once you build up your propagation skills, you might want to have a go at grafting. If you can grow rootstock plants, it can be very cost effective to buy scion wood (effectively tree prunings) of known varieties of trees and graft them on to the rootstock you have. Scion wood is often only $3 a piece – much cheaper than a store bought fruit tree.
- Young plants are cheaper, buy the tree small & let it grow. If you have time more than money – buy small plants and put the time into growing them into big plants. You can pick up small fruit trees for less than $10 compared to paying $20 or more for the larger versions. This is also true for natives & most other trees & shrubs.
