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Mistletoe

madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
in Plants
I have 2 cherry trees that could be good candidates for Mistletoe and would like to give it a go.
I read that you can 'plant' seeds on the tree in March/April.I can get these as there is a fair amount of Mistletoe around here,one which I passed this morning at head height so easily accessible!
Has anyone here tried growing Mistletoe with any success?
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    no, but I've tried without success several times. It's growing quite close to me and I keep hoping it will just tun up. I've been hoping for 25 years now :) 


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    I may still just give it a go even if there is little likelihood of success!
    Nothing ventured and all that......!
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    It can be done, or so I'm told :)
    Both years I tried we had a very dry and hot summer, might have been different with more moisture


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener Posts: 1,237
    I sowed about 50 berries 5 years ago on various trees and a year later they all seemed to have disappeared without trace. Last spring I was cutting back some brambles when I noticed a small, 2 leaf, mistletoe plant on one of the hawthorns I had used. Thrilled to bits I sowed another 50 last spring because I know I won't get berries unless I have male and female plants.

    The area is fairly impenetrable during the summer because of the brambles but I revisited last week for the annual bramble trim and the first mistletoe now has 4 leaves and there is another 2 leaf plant higher up. A couple of the ones sown last year also show signs of life still in spite of the dry summer!
  • yorkshireroseyorkshirerose Posts: 574
    I rubbed some berries on to my Malus 'Profusion Improved' about 8 years ago, forgot about them and 2 years later saw green shoots. The mistletoe thrived whilst the crab apple suffered. The bark cracked where the mistletoe had sent down it's parasitic shoots.

    At it's largest the mistletoe was about 18" in circumference. I've cut it all off now, but it will probably grow back. I think my Malus will live.

    A gardener's work is never at an end  - (John Evelyn 1620-1706)
  • Big Blue SkyBig Blue Sky Posts: 716
    Why would one want a mistletoe growing on their trees? Aren’t they parasites that can eventually kill the tree? Sorry, just really curious there, surely there are better plants to have in your garden?
    Surrey
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener Posts: 1,237
    I just happen to be very fond of mistletoe :) !

    I don't think it will normally result in the death of the tree - it really wouldn't be in it's best interests to have evolved to kill its host.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    An old apple tree in a friend’s garden has had mistletoe on  it since she was a child and probably before that (and she’s older than me and I’m retired). The tree still produces a good crop of tasty apples and the mistletoe provides bunches for favoured friends at Christmas. It doesn’t seem to have done the tree any harm.
    As Singing Gardener says, it wouldn’t be in a parasitic plant’s interest to have evolved to kill its host. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Mistletoe is only semi parasitic as it can photosynthesize with its leaves and Singing Gardener is right in the observation that it won't kill its host. Very envious here as I have tried on numerous occasions to grow it without any success whatsoever. My willing guinea pig tree - a Malus John Downie - continues to thrive though.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
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