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clone of a clone of a clone - reducing vigour?

SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
in Tools and techniques
I have some pelargoniums that are maybe tenth generation of cuttings. My original cutting (about 12 years ago) grew to seven foot (in a large pot). My current cuttings seem to be struggling to even get going. I wonder if vigour is lost of generations get further in degrees of separation from the "mother plant". Can you take cuttings or cuttings forever? Thanks

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    You should only take cuttings of healthy plants.  If they are virused , then the virus transmits to the new plant.  Many plants are micropropagated from stem cells which gives new life to a range of plants.  This is out of the normal culture by gardeners.
    Potatoes can be grown from left overs in the soil for a few generations, but it is necessary to replace every now and then with virus free stock, grown in Scotland where there are no aphids to transmit viruses.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I was wondering this recently as I was looking at my Salix Boydii. It's a plant that was only ever found as one specimen in 1870 and all plants in cultivation are clones from that one plant. Mine hasn't grown a huge amount in the six years that I've had it so I wonder how many generations of cuttings it has taken to produce it.
    Similarly I've got succulents that are all traceable back to one original donor plant and I know of others that have been lost to cultivation due to the clones not surviving.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    My Red Velour petunias were first grown in 2018. Since then the original six have spawned hundreds of offspring. I see no reduction in vigour. Tomorrow, if I remember, I’ll post a picture.
    Rutland, England
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Here they are



    Rutland, England
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Love the door sign  about the butterfly bombs.
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