Stool Layering - Is it Worth the Effort?!

www.edibleacres...
After a year of mounding soil around this particular 'Slitsa' Black Currant, I reveal how many divisions and propagation points I'm able to have happen. Incredible amount of plant increase with some very low tech and pretty passive methods!
• Propagation - Easy Sto... - Introduction to how I approach stool layering. Very simple ideas to share here...
Roger Ort and Ort Family Farms: / ortfamilyfarm
Am Leonard Nursery Spade I like to use:
bit.ly/2BVdx6q

[@MrRJS27]

I am really glad stool layering doesn't mean what I thought it would mean.

[@23Flo666]

MrRJS27 exactly my thought

[@lizhoxie7202]

Were you thinking of a 3 legged milking stool?

[@MrMawnster]

It can if you want....fertilizer??

[@SimonHaestoe]

@@lizhoxie7202 :D

[@therawlifefamily]

Great video. I recently discovered after buying some bare root honeyberry plants that it's easy to do the same thing. i was able to get about 12 plants out of 4, plus hardwood cuttings for 20+ more plants. My lilac bush I bought was even better. I got 7 fully rooted stems and 5 shoots that were growing off of the roots.

[@JohnDoe_88]

I love doing that. I just usually use reused 2liter bottles that I cut a hole in the bottom and cut down the side so I can wrap the bottle around vines or branches has worked great and it is nice to easily see roots through the clear bottle so I know when I'm ready to separate the plant often by early summer I have good roots to transplant

[@edibleacres]

Thats a neat idea!

[@miguelpereira702]

another great video (surprise surprise), and this time with an extra bonus of having some of Sasha's awesome inputs on video making. And I totally agree! As much as I sometimes find time-lapses to be useful to get through some more monotonous or repetitive footage, I hardly find that to be of any necessity when it's Edible Acres videos we're talking about. So much juice to be squeezed out, down to every detail, be it in technique and skills or the humble approach to cooperating with nature :) keep it up, guys!

[@edibleacres]

Thanks so much for the kind words :)

[@slaplapdog]

I love how you relate to these plants. You speak of being generous and explain when you feel like you have been less than gentle.

[@trumpetingangel]

I've been trying to figure out what stool layering actually is, and it's a bit hard by reading! This video has taught me what I need to know.

[@edibleacres]

Really glad it was useful to you!

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

I love these propagation videos. Thank you!

[@edibleacres]

You're very welcome!

[@eecforeststewardship640]

lovely teaching! Imagine how much abundance we'd all have in our gardens if we spent more time on propagation!

[@edibleacres]

Nurseries like mine would be out of business :) Actually, I don't think that would be true at all, more people would be wanting to get started. And I wouldn't want to sell the same person currants twice! :)

[@eecforeststewardship640]

I agree, the genetic diversity is key!

[@albertnongrum1021]

You are the greatest gardener i have ever seen.Your idea of air layer is amazing, because it works on apple and cherries.

[@edibleacres]

I am 100% sure there are some way more amazing gardeners you could be checking out!

[@SimonHaestoe]

@@edibleacres Lies!

[@lizhoxie7202]

I really enjoy your videos, I learn so much, even though the climate is arid here.

[@jediwarrior9347]

Ikr! I live in AZ and just salivate and fantasize as I watch these absolutely delicious videos! You've heard of "food porn"? Well, for me this is "farming porn", lol.

[@anitagriffin2472]

Thank you for showing details and speaking slowly.

[@edibleacres]

Absolutely my pleasure

[@tyronesart]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one

[@edibleacres]

I'm glad!

[@PermacultureHomestead]

this is how we have been doing elderberry. thx sean

[@edibleacres]

Great. Yeah, elderberry works wonderfully this way, too!

[@thechaosgardener]

Thanks for the info! I havent tried growing currant but I am thinking about it.

[@edibleacres]

They are really great plants in our experience.

[@Preetylata]

This is most useful for propagation of apple thank you

[@edibleacres]

For rootstocks on apple this can be amazing.

[@cotycoty6022]

You guys are awesome.

[@edibleacres]

Thanks for watching our videos! :)

[@nigelkay4210]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge

[@bintodec8705]

Should proly keep the new plants and cuttings in bucket of water/mud until planting so that they don't dry too much.

[@MrMcGillicuddy]

Hey Sean great video. I was wondering something. I never really gave it much thought but read that it's illegal to sell certain patented plants. Have you ever had any issue with that? I was wondering if there is a place you can look up what plants are protected by law or not.

[@edibleacres]

I don't know about a simple source to find a list of all patented plants, but I'm sure you could search a given name along with the term patent and see what you can learn. Any plans for you collect seeds and grow them from seeds opens things up again just as a note. Whenever possible, I try to bring in named varieties that are no longer under patent so that they are open to expanding.

[@arnavstudio164]

Hi friend

[@obadiahscave]

Do you know what stoole is..?

[@Preetylata]

Wow bird sounds

[@robertrembert4818]

Awesome! Thanks for the nice tips!!

[@fourdayhomestead2839]

A $30 investment in an elderberry is healed in. Hope for some extra plants come summer 2024.

[@pincheguarito591]

Great video, good information. Can you recommend a nice berry that will out compete the locust saplings that plague my chain-link fence each summer?

[@edibleacres]

I would look at 'scotia' elderberry or any of the american type elders. Also Jostaberry is insanely vigorous. You may want to explore some willows, too!

[@pincheguarito591]

Just took a look at your site and while jostaberry sounds yummy, I'm afraid it will outgrow the chest high fence and shade my raised bed where I attempt to do a three sisters set up each year. Would thorn-less blackberries do the job? If so, do you think it's early enough to order a bundle and have them fill out the fence in zone 7b this year?

[@HomesteadOC]

Nice, can you explain the layering technique a little better? Im mulching my whole lot with wood chips and Im planting fruit trees with the crown at woodchip grade height so they will be level with the soil later on. The chips are brought in for free, but over time those will decrease as the food forest is established and chop and drop sustains the mulch layer.

[@edibleacres]

Search on my channel for 'stool layering' as I talk about it in greater detail in other videos. Good luck!

[@HomesteadOC]

EdibleAcres Ill check it out, thanks

[@arexius3]

Namaskaram, Is this something which would work as well with other bushy berries, like blueberry?

[@edibleacres]

You can certainly try. I believe blueberry would respond well to this.

[@arexius3]

@@edibleacres Thank you 🙏 I watched one of the Q & A sessions yesterday and there you mentioned it as well 🍀

[@leevandyke4562]

I feel like before dormancy you could go around your property and just take cuttings to s very low point and have thousands of cuttings

[@edibleacres]

Absolutely

[@rawkrentals]

Do you have a fave currant? I'm planning on buying some but not sure what varieties to go with.

[@edibleacres]

Tough question. There are so many wonderful types. Black Currant I love Minaj Smirouj and Belaruskaja, but also enjoy how deep and funky Ben Serek can taste. Red currants I love Jonakeer Ver Tets. White currant I think Blanka is pretty wonderful and Pink Champagne is a great pink currant.

[@rawkrentals]

EdibleAcres thanks Sean. I'm looking at varieties to plant this spring - I want to plant some thorny ones with raspberries and Sea Buckthorn as a deer barrier around my garden.

[@dancingcedar]

Why is this spade considered to be a nursery spade?

[@edibleacres]

It is particularly sharp, strong and built to last. 'King of Spades' is the make if you are interested in learning more. I truly swear by them at this point!

[@francismeowgannou5322]

When is a good time to stool layer? Can I so it early summer/ late spring?

[@edibleacres]

You can do it now and later... I stool layer when I have a moment to do it... Kind of like potatoes. The more often you have a chance to do it the better the results.

[@francismeowgannou5322]

@@edibleacres will it work on a elderberry bush that I just transplanted? Thanks for the reply!

[@franek_izerski]

What is the difference in the cuttings that are rooted and that are unrooted? The rooted ones just come up faster? In other words 'is it worth the effort?!' As it took two years to come to this abundance.. So if you'd have taken unrooted cuttings the first year, would you have much more rooted propagation this year? If so, then why stool layer? Or are there other things to consider? I hope you understand what I mean, haha.

[@pincheguarito591]

Most berries and fruit trees won't produce fruit or significantly branch out until there is a robust root mass. By letting it grow for 2 years he got lots of root-able cuttings and at least three rooted cuttings that should fruit this summer.

[@franek_izerski]

Yes, I think I understand what you're saying. Thanks!

[@edibleacres]

I like to take hardwood cuttings AND stool layer plants that I am trying to ramp up to larger production. This lets me get more numerous but small plants happening quickly and at the same time be able to get a handful of much larger, well rooted and production plants from the same patch. I will then dig the whole thing out, move that 'one' plant (which is now 20+) into a production row, and use the fresh and deeply opened soil to root a new round of a different species.

[@jillhoward1452]

Do the black current cuttings have to be from dormant plants or would it still work after dormancy has broken?

[@edibleacres]

Cuttings are ideally dormant, but the stool layering can happen any time.

[@jillhoward1452]

Hmmm, the bush I have access to is at my parents. We have done some stool layering but I am not sure I will be able to do any pruning for cuttings until late enough in the spring that dormancy may have broken.

[@jillhoward1452]

Update: Dormancy hasn't broken here so I just planted 25 cuttings and two rooted plants from my parents' black current bush! Maybe I can snag some elderberries next week.

[@henrikgenzink2304]

How readily do hardwood cut currants root and how long to wait?

[@edibleacres]

Currants root incredibly well. Cuttings stuck in spring should be nice sized thoroughly rooted plants by fall.

[@danielallouche2493]

Will blueberry also stool layer?

[@edibleacres]

Yes. They are a bit more sluggish to root, but they do. They seem to prefer a sawdust medium around them for best rooting as stool mounding. Pine sawdust is most likely ideal.

[@sqwrrl]

Will that work for blueberries?

[@MattWilkinsonwilkoteq]

Carlota Chmielewski I have tried blueberries this year. Hoping they will work. No idea though. Not sure if they are grafted or not.

[@edibleacres]

Should be promising, definitely worth trying. Just give it time, sometimes it may be a whole year or even two and then you have beautiful roots. And keep adding material as it breaks down.