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

Comments

Paul Gautschi's Back to Eden Growing Method

Raking wood chips, prepping to plant a small tree. From the first time I heard about Paul Gautschi's Back to Eden gardening method, I have been hooked. It has answered almost every major question I had about setting up a regenerative homestead here in the central Texas area, where the weather is so extreme -- either flood or drought, burning hot or freezing cold, etc. The general philosophy of Back to Eden is: Grow Things as the Creator Intended . According to Gautschi, God revealed to him that he was gardening the hard way, which also happens to be how farmers have worked since recorded history. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, states that after the Fall, God cursed mankind and the soil so that "man would only be able to live by the sweat of his brow." And, after mankind was expelled from the Garden of Eden, men took to growing food by "tilling the ground." This makes a lot of sense if you look at modern farming practices, where the ground is tilled ...

Some Things We've Learned About Chickens

We have been raising free range chickens for a few years now, and here are some casual observations that you might find either interesting or useful (if you plan on keeping chickens for yourself). Feel Free to add your own thoughts or observations in the comments! 🙂 1. Chickens Love to Eat Weeds This might sound mundane, but it is a major life-hack, especially for a homesteader. If you have any kind of yard, weeds are simply a fact of life. No matter how hard we work to eliminate them, they will always find a way. Enter chickens. They will eat pretty much any kind of weed. If there is something that they aren't sure about (maybe it will make them sick, etc.) they generally know not to eat it. Thanks to chickens we can look at weeds, unwanted grass, etc. no longer as a resource and time sucking nuisance, but rather a free, clean, egg creation fuel. 2. Chickens Have a Pecking Order You may have heard of this, but it really is a thing. As so...

Why Goat Milk Soap?

What is the main purpose of soap? To clean your skin. Simple enough, right? Well, yes and no. Over the long term, the soap you use everyday will have either a negative or positive effect on your holistic health. For example, washing your hands with typical anti-bacterial soap will expose you to harsh chemicals, which cause irritation, dryness and even eczema (inflammation) after long term exposure. For years I have used soap without really thinking about what kind of long term effect it was having on my skin. My goal was to feel and smell clean. These are good goals, but these side effects can be faked with the help of chemicals and artificial scents. So my skin might feel clean, but it is actually stripped of all natural oils that it needs to maintain a healthy moisture barrier. And I might smell better, but in reality my natural smell is just being masked by artificial scents. Why Goat Milk? Goat milk has been known for millennia to have...

Ohana Farm and Market

Search This Blog