Can I save my pear tree sapling?

Question

Today my son decided to pluck my pear tree sapling out of the pot, It is now a seven inch sapling without a root, can I save it?

Currently I have it sitting in a glass of water to cover the area where the root was, a bit up, but not covering any of the leaves. If I can save it, is there anything I can add to the water to help it re-grow the root it did have?

Answer 1

What happened to the root? If you still have the root you can graft it. I'm not sure how to go about doing this but I have known people to do this type of thing, and I don't think it's that hard.

I think you need a grafting compound.

Call your local gardening store and they should be able to help you out.

Answer 2

If you were able to get it in water straight after it was uprooted it may be possible to regrow it as a cutting. I can't guarantee success , the whole process is a bit time consuming and prone to failure with just one plant but it's fun to grow your own cuttings too.

You'll need to find a little pot to plant the cutting in while it grows it's roots & fill it with a cutting/seedraising mix of some sort.

Buying a commercial mix is a little over the top when you are just growing one cutting, maybe you could borrow some from someone else, or make your own approximation. A combination of course sand and potting mix should be ok, it's important to sterilize the mix (moisten it and microwave for 1-2mins or until steam forms then leave to cool).

Then prepare the cutting by making a clean cut just beneath a node (see diagram)

http://www.wildchicken.com/nature/garden...

and gently plant it in the soil. Ideally you'd use one of the commercial softwood rooting gels or powders to encourage rooting, but you could try using honey instead. I've not used it myself, but other people have had success using honey as a rooting hormone when they've run out of the real stuff.

Then all you need to do is water the cutting regularly, and wait a few weeks for the roots to develop. As soon as the roots are there you can carefully plant the cutting back in it's original pot & hope it survives. - Good luck