THERE IS
MISTLETOE GROWING ON MY APPLE TREE! I am ecstatic and have to share this with
you all. But first let me explain what happened previously. It started back in December
2014 (!!)
At a
Christmas market I bought a large bunch of mistletoe. Mistletoe ....... I
dreamed ...... .. mistletoe, if only I could grow that on my apple tree.... So
I looked on the Internet how to 'sow' mistletoe on an apple tree.
The
'sowing' or should I say the 'planting' of mistletoe goes like this:
Find a
sturdy branch in your apple tree, preferably one that gets a lot of sun.
Press the
seed (mind you, the seeds are poisonous!) from the berry and spread the sticky
seedling against the bark of the apple tree.
The best
time for this is February but I did it in December.
Then wait
for a long,….. long time ....
The next
year in April, I saw some small green things growing from the seeds into the
tree. It reminded me of a science fiction movie with creepy creatures and their
winding tentacles. All these scary things in my garden. Brr!
The following
year I looked several times, but never saw something particular. I was
convinced the experiment had failed, until today. As the sun suddenly shines on
that particular branch, I think Huh???
Six
mistletoe plants are growing from the branch! The plants are small and berries have
not appeared yet, but that is just a matter of time. In a few years time I can
harvest my own mistletoe.
My conclusion
after these three years: it has been a successful experiment! But ‘sowing’ Mistletoe
...... is a true lesson in patience!
Mistletoe the perfect Christmas feel.
This is the mistletoe I bought years ago.
Seeding Mistletoe. Squeeze out the berry.
Smear it at the branch and wait patiently for a year to see it grow!
Next spring, some tiny 'roots' grow into the apple tree.
Three years later..... mistletoe!
New follower a warm welcome.
Three years is indeed an exercise in patience! Congratulations on your successful experiment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-word-ful-wordless-wednesday-on.html
Dear Hetty,
ReplyDeletethis is a great post! Just recently I talked about mistletoes with my mum. She said that she would like them to grow in her garden. I vaguely remembered watching a tutorial about how to sow them at gardener´s world. I told my mum about it, though I wasn´t sure if I remembered correctly how they did it. Thus, your tutorial comes in very handy. I was a bit in doubt that this would work when I saw it at gardener´s world, but seeing how well it worked for you, I really think it could work for me too. I will try it on my apricot tree and I am sure my mum will try it too on her trees when I tell her how well it worked for you. In case it should´t work, that´s fine too. As you say, it´s an experiment.
Lovely that it worked out so great for you!
I will try it this week and will keep you updated. Who knows, maybe in some years I will have a mistletoe on my tree too....dreaming
Best wishes,
Lisa
Spread the news Lisa, fingers crossed! Groetjes Hetty
DeleteI didn't know mistletoe could be propagated like that. Doesn't it kill the trees there? It is pretty in winter and I love that first picture.
ReplyDeleteAs the mistletoe grow larger it could harm the tree. I think I cut the mistletoe back by that time. Groetjes Hetty
ReplyDeleteThat is incredible! Happy New YEars!
ReplyDelete