Rewilding My Lot

My Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree was recently pruned to allow for it to be braced for stabilization. That revealed a few tiny new branches that were growing directly from the main trunk, in a position lower than I want new branches to grow.

Obviously I could just cut these off, but I decided to see if these tiny branches could be encouraged to form new roots. I had all the ingredients here already, so there seemed no harm in giving it a go.

As each twig was cut from the tree, I sprayed the lower part with water and then sprinkled rooting powder on it.

Then I inserted the coated twig into a small pot of potting soil, the same as I have been using for seed germination, and moistened the pot well using a spray bottle of water.

I constructed crude makeshift “greenhouses” using plastic 1-gallon jugs. At first I tried fitting two pots into one jug, but that stretched the jugs too much and so I put each of my four pots into one jug and added them to my guest room nursery collection.