For 2 winters in a row I have started cuttings of my INCREDIBLY beautiful Chitalpa tree - cuttings up to one half in diameter, dipped in root tone and stuck in the ground in an out of the way spot. It takes months to see any growth so don't give up! Sometimes the new growth comes up as a shoot from the new roots and sometimes you see leaves come out of the stick. Both are in the picture. I have found that the cuttings must be taken while dormant.
My neighbor has this tree and I have tried MANY times to root cuttings, with no success. Do you have any 1-foot or more, saplings to trade? If so, dmail me and I can tell you what I have available.
I am sure this is the same tree we have here in town. One tree, only it is much bigger than yours. Do you know how old yours is? And it is a regular big tree, an old tree. Only one in the area that we know of.
The ones you have with new growth appear to be the smaller ones??? You have never gotten any seeds to germinate???
What season are you trying. I have my best luck with tree, shrub and rose cuttings if I take the cuttings in fall, then put 6 inches in mud, at least a couple of nodes above ground. compost pile is the best place. I have rooted willow, abelia, and several variety of roses that way. They usually have minimal roots by april, delicate stuff I try to keep them watered and cool til the following winter, but the abelia and roses I just shove in the ground where I want them and keep watered.
Ok, we are talking about 2 different trees. I googled both and they are different. I am talking about Catalpa, and you are talking about Chitalpa. 2 different trees. I am going to try to start mine from seeds. That is why they look different. Jen
Jen...Catalpa is easy-peasy from seeds....seeds on Chitalpa are sterile...I've raised chitalpa morning cloud for years now and found it to be one of the most superior trees for hot, dry, drought-tolerant and long-blooming...it stands in defiance of my belief that native must be superior to hybrids....LOL
Well darn. Now I am at a loss. There is only one tree in this area and it belongs to a woman who closed her business and I don't know where she is. Several years ago she said that tree, and I am sure she said Catalpa, would not grow from seeds. Wonder if because there were no other trees in the area to pollinate it? Or, because it was a Chitalpa????
It is a big, like at least 40 feet tall and 20 feet across the top, beautiful white flowers in the spring, and now has quite long pods, brown now, on it.
However, you say the Chitalpa start easy from seeds. Something is wrong with this picture.
What do you think? Jen
40' tall and 20' across is a Catalpa...often called Cigar Plant because of the shape of the seed pods...it is considered highly aggressive here in Central Texas...many reasons...reseeds rampantly, soft wood that breaks off in wind...
I believe any statement that indicates Catalpa seeds do not germination is inaccurate. The trees are 2 very distinctively different plants, but the names are so similar that it could be confusing...Chitalpa is a cross of Catalpa (fast growing) and Desert Willow (Lacy, beautiful bloom, etc.)...and Chitalpa has only been an authorized hybrid for a decade...the timing seems to make the determination that the large tree in the area is Catalpa/Cigar Plant...and the blooms here are great for bees and can also be a light pink...but it is still too aggressive plant to try to bring into a residential garden...
Hope this clarifies...MaryAnn
Thanks MaryAnn,
I had my DH pick up some pods today and he got GREEN!! I guess it never dawned on me he wouldn't get ripe ones. Do you think, after they have been picked from the tree, green, that they will do anything, or just rot? Jen
Oh BTW, I have 40 acres so this tree shouldn't bother anything.
Let them dry a while , then plant them , one or two probably will germinate and grow , Ripe seeds would be better , only not all seeds have to be ripe to grow ,
JUhur is right...and Catalpa...if Texas is any indication...has about a 100% germination rate! LOL
Can someone tell us how to ROOT Chitalpa cuttings? I read the OP and am experienced at rooting cuttings, but cannot get this one to root.
JU, are you talking about the beans in the pod, or the whole pod. These don't appear far enough along to have beans. Don't they have them? If not, what pops out when they open on the tree???
Yes when you said green I thought you meant they had beans in them . need the beans , those are the seeds !!! lol
Maybe I will cut one open and see how far along those babies are.
Better to let them dry , until they break open on their own , better chance for seeds that way , just like drying beans ...
Do you think they will continue growing and forming beans???
Maybe I should put one with the stem in water???
I don't know , You are looking at them , not me , I do know they do exactly what beans do , If there is enough of them in the pod , they will dry develop to some level , All they have to do is look like a dry bean when their dry ,
If they look like a dry bean at all , they grow ,, usually anyway ..
Cross post ya might ,, give that a try !!!
Well, I have several so will stick one in water and see if it develops any beans.
lol Somewhere in this conversation you lost me.. Are they bean pods or stems ?. Sounds like your saying one of the pods already has a plant growing out it ..?
wrongggggggg. I have 4 or 5 pods with short stems. They do not appear,or feel like they have beans. The pods feel very thick. You know how peas look and feel when they have peas growing in the pods? Well, these do not feel that way.
I thought Bob knew what to get. When I was there the other day their were ripe pods all over the tree. Dark brown, some opened and empty and some still closed up and obviously ready to pop anytime.
The farm woman there selling produce, snapped at me that they would not germinate. I had asked Bob to get me some then. When she said that Bob wouldn't do it. Guess he figured since she was a farmer, she knew more than I did. Wrong again. She doesn't come on here.
I went over to an empty parking lot , picked some , These seeds are tiny compared to the beans I remember . In the silk in the pod in the middle of each section there is a tiny seed ..
If I were growing these , I would dry them, then mix the silk, seeds, and all into a minature compost mix , plant them on the surface and cover with some light mulch ..
Different than the old days ..
Hey Jen .. "beans" - pods " lol
Well JU, send me some!! Just stick them in an envelope and mark it to hand cancel only, seeds, and put a stamp on it and send it to me. Along with that bubble sprinkler you were going to let me have. Did you ever find it? If so, it will not fit in an envelope. LOL
I really want some of those seeds tho. Jen
You see that brown in the fluff ? There is a dust size seed in that , some have fallen to the bottom of the cup, that's not even the actual seed . I am not sure they are mature . I wish I was .
On Monday I will send them to you though , a gray bubble envelope .
Okay if the dust, fluff, and all in a couple of seed mini-zip locks okay ..?
I haven't seen the sprinkler in five years .. still ..
This message was edited Aug 16, 2013 6:50 PM
LOL, ok, so what do I do, get the pot ready and sprinkle dust and everything over it? I can do that.
Thanks, Jen (JB's name for me) btw, have you heard from her lately?
Haven't lately , talked last weekend ..
Planting Fevefew seedlings and working with Coneflower seedlings . Blanket flowers too !
Well, don;'t forget to send my Catalpa seeds. :0)
Could someone root me a chitalpa cutting and bring it to the north Texas RU? I think I have a trade list.
Gypsi, I would love one of the Chitalpa plants, too.
If someone WITH a chitalpa tree will get me some cuttings by fall RU I will try to root them over the winter. I have had good luck with roses and willow trees and abelia bushes.
I need foot long fresh moist cuttings, wrapped in newspaper if they must be mailed, branches/stemps about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch in diameter with multiple nodes, and maybe a few leaves so I can tell which end is up (leave leaves on top please)
I have my best luck just sticking them in the ground around here in the flowerbed on the north side of my house, no rooting hormones, artificial lights or anything, 6 inches under ground at least 4 inches up, fresh and with nodes. I am going to try to do vitex this winter too.
