Growing saplings from an established alder tree

Hi all,

I am shortly due to move house.

In our current house my wife and I planted an alder tree at the bottom of the garden a few years ago which has quite a bit of sentimental value to us.

It is now too big to take with us, so I had the idea of growing a sapling from it somehow and then planting this in the garden in our new house, as an ode to the original tree.

I'm not sure how feasible this is and I certainly would have no idea how to go about it.

The tree currently has these catkins growing on it - is there a way to grow saplings from these?



Forgive me if these are dumb questions but I really am very green when it comes to this sort of thing.

 

Hi,

Not something we have done, but seems now is the ideal time to save seeds from the Cones and sow them as this link shows.
https://treecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Alder-Seeds.pdf

The other method is to take hardwood cuttings which is worth trying as well as the seeds.
This RHS gudie on such cutting shows you how.
Cuttings: hardwood / RHS

 

The seeds are tiny, I have grown them but not to maturity.
Fairly fast growing in the early stages.

Just take a cone, not the long dangly ones, and put it in a warm room, it should open and the tiny seeds will fall out.

You could sow them straight away and cover the surface with grit, then leave outside in a sheltered position, you should get seedlings coming through in late spring.

 

I think you should succeed with cuttings taken Nov-January. Strip the bark 40mm from bottom and plant in fine silt soil. Keep wet and in shade . It likes damp conditions, boggy ground. Even logs left behind when clearing have been seen to root !