Life Wants To Live

Dr. Ian Malcolm tells us in Jurassic Park, that "life will find a way". Watching life find a way it's amazing.

I have been watching videos on YouTube of people who know more about plants than me doing amazing things with trees. One of those things is rooting a tree branch.
There are a number of ways of doing it. I won't go over them here, you can search YouTube for the stuff.

THE DETAILS OF THE OPERATION:
I cut a small branch from a Persimmon tree. I selected a branch I suspected was this year's growth or maybe last year's. I cut it in four sections. I then trimmed the bottom of each section diagonally to increase the surface area. I dipped that end on rooting hormone I bought at a local hardware store and stuck each section on separate small plastic containers filled with sterile growing medium which I also bought at the hardware store. I added water to the growing medium before I planted the sections of the tree branch in it. The plastic containers were former sour cream containers that I saved. Before I used them, I washed them with dish washing soap and let them dry. I did not put draining holes on them.
Finally, I covered each tree branch section with an empty plastic water bottle. I removed the bottom of each plastic bottle and carefully placed it on each container to create a mini green house. I made sure that the tree branch section didn't touch the sides of the bottle. This is something I have seen stressed everywhere. I don't know why but why take chances? I left the cap on each plastic bottle.
The point of the water bottle mini-green house is to keep the air immediately around the branch humid. If the branch section dries, it won't root. I stored the containers under my porch which is shaded and cooler in the Summer. Then I waited. I didn't have to wait very long:

THIS MAKES ME SMILE

I think it took about two weeks for the buds to appear. Only two three of the sections have sprouted buds, one has not yet. I believe, that the buds are there because the twig has roots. I am afraid to disturb it. At this point I removed the mini-green house and as soon as the buds break out into leaves, I will transplant the whole thing to a pot.

There you have it. Persimmon tree version 1.0

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