I've managed to pursuade some Yew cuttings to root. I have them in some pots. I wondered if anyone had anytips about overwintering successfully? Would they be best in an unheated greenhouse, or outside?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
lynda
Yew cuttings
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Hi Lynda,
It really depends on how old the cutting are so to be on the safe side I should keep them in an unheated greenhouse this year. It is not because they are not hardy but plants in pots react in different ways to heavy frosts. When I have taken Yew cuttings and they are ready to transplant I have always planted them in protected nursery rows and not potted on at all. In pots it means that the frost can have a go at the roots more readily.
I consider that it is now too late to plant out for the plants to make sufficient growth to sustain them over winter.
BTW when did you take the cuttings?
It really depends on how old the cutting are so to be on the safe side I should keep them in an unheated greenhouse this year. It is not because they are not hardy but plants in pots react in different ways to heavy frosts. When I have taken Yew cuttings and they are ready to transplant I have always planted them in protected nursery rows and not potted on at all. In pots it means that the frost can have a go at the roots more readily.
I consider that it is now too late to plant out for the plants to make sufficient growth to sustain them over winter.
BTW when did you take the cuttings?
JB.
Did you know that yew trees are naturally very good survivers and individual trees may have been dormant under ice caps for hundreds (thousands?) of years during ice ages. If part of the trunk gets damaged or died and rots with age the unharmed part will heal over and continued to grow. Most trees will but yews seem to be tougher than most. Many church records show trees with a smaller girth than 200 or 300 years previous due to this. It is very difficult to age a tree as the inside will rot so you can't count the rings, neither can you use carbon dating as the oldest wood has rotted away. The trees may 'move' as the older branches will often root if they touch the ground. If the original tree died then the new rooted one takes over.
They have also been linked to 'mystical' events. I have meet a woman who three years pervious was due to go into a hospice with cancer, expected only to live another week or two. But went at the weekend with friends to a pair of yew trees in a churchyard. They were a male and female, when she stood between them she felt a shudder go through her...but then she had felt strange things with her cancer. On the Monday she packed her bags and when to the hospice, but after examinations and more tests they could not find a trace of the cancer so was released at the end of the week.
They have also been linked to 'mystical' events. I have meet a woman who three years pervious was due to go into a hospice with cancer, expected only to live another week or two. But went at the weekend with friends to a pair of yew trees in a churchyard. They were a male and female, when she stood between them she felt a shudder go through her...but then she had felt strange things with her cancer. On the Monday she packed her bags and when to the hospice, but after examinations and more tests they could not find a trace of the cancer so was released at the end of the week.
I don't suffer from insanity .... I enjoy it!
Vivianne
Vivianne
I assume most gardeners know that yew cuttings are required by the pharmacy industry to make treatments for cancer. All the major pharmaceutical producers require huge amounts of yew and welcome all contributions.
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Clive.
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We started today on our round of Yew hedgetrimming...trimmed onto plastic sheets to keep the clippings clean....we hope to finish trimming by Friday wence the Yew trimmings will be collected by a firm based near Doncaster who will dry and bale them for onward despatch to the pharmaceutical company.
The Yew clippings job has not been as keen in the last couple of years as it was at first...there must be a European Yew clipping mountain or some such
In fact I think it could be that the chemical has been made synthetically.???
It was at one time that a few dustbin bags full would warrant a collection....also it is only I believe clean one years growth that is requested. Once there was a second grade up to pencil thickness second year growth...and even branches collected for stripping by the collecting/drying company...although I do believe that demand for the clippings may be up again this year.??.
Out of further interest.??...whilst I have had an involment at the raw material end.. my "young" lady friend was up until recently working in the pharmacy dept of a well known London cancer specialist hospital dispensing the end product.
http://www.taxotere.com/professional/about/index.do
All the best,
Clive.
The Yew clippings job has not been as keen in the last couple of years as it was at first...there must be a European Yew clipping mountain or some such
In fact I think it could be that the chemical has been made synthetically.???
It was at one time that a few dustbin bags full would warrant a collection....also it is only I believe clean one years growth that is requested. Once there was a second grade up to pencil thickness second year growth...and even branches collected for stripping by the collecting/drying company...although I do believe that demand for the clippings may be up again this year.??.
Out of further interest.??...whilst I have had an involment at the raw material end.. my "young" lady friend was up until recently working in the pharmacy dept of a well known London cancer specialist hospital dispensing the end product.
http://www.taxotere.com/professional/about/index.do
All the best,
Clive.