Create an Unlimited Supply of Fruit Trees with the Miracle of Propagation

If you stop and think about it, many seemingly mundane or trivial things are actually quite miraculous.

Take seeds, for example. A single, tiny seed will fall to the ground and dry up (die). Then, even in this dried-out state, it is programmed to initiate new growth (sprout) after it contacts water, seek nutrients and water from the surrounding soil, send down roots, send up green foliage, gather energy from the sun, then create more seeds to multiple infinitely more of its kind in the future.

Pretty amazing!

Growing trees (or plants) from cuttings is similarly miraculous. A totally new fig tree, for example, can grow from a small 12-18 inch section of branch. This can oftentimes be more efficient than growing from a seed. Propagating your own new tree requires two simple ingredients: a section of a tree branch and some moist soil.

It works better for certain species of plants and trees than others. My casual observation is that more hearty trees made for harsher environments (such as a desert) tend to be easier to propagate.

Fig trees are notoriously good for propagating from cuttings, and they are indeed suited for growth in the desert. Here is a cutting from a Celeste fig, a variety that grows well here in central Texas:

There are some large Facebook communities out there dedicated to selling or trading fig cuttings from what seems like thousands of different fig varieties. If you wanted to make a trade yourself, you would simply need to trim off the number of cuttings you need, then package them in such a way that they stay moist, then send then in the mail to your trading partner.

I have had a lot of success with Mulberry trees as well. It's another fruit bearing tree that can handle the harsh weather here in Texas:

Potted mulberry tree grown from a cutting

For a bit more visual context, here is a video I posted showing how to propagate a Mulberry tree yourself and what my success has been over the last year or so:

The prospect of growing lots of mulberries and figs is exciting for me because they should be an sustainable source of fruit/berries that can be made into jams, fruit leather, freeze dried fruit, or (of course) we can eat it fresh off of the tree. Not yet, but soon!

Have a great week,

- Patrick

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