Pruning and wrapping time will be here in about a month (about the same time as my baby girl, it's going to be busy!). I am planning to have a lot of cuttings available from my mother-in-law's mystery tree since it shot up a few more feet this year. I know cuttings are ideally pencil to finger width in size. For some reason in my head I always took that to be the maximum recommended size, but is that right?

I will probably have cuttings an inch and more in diameter. Are these more or less likely to sprout than the pencil/finger-sized cuttings. I had it in my thick skull that larger cuttings were no good, but the more I think about it the more it seems like the more wood, the more energy available for roots. Sorry, I realize this is probably a really dumb question!

Any size is fine. Have rooted cuttings up to 2" diameter.

any size like jon said. i rooted 1" cutting with one node and about 3/4" in diameter. usually i like mine around 1/2" thick and 5-6" long with maybe 3 or more nodes. i try to send out cuttings in that aize.

last few i sent out was one of the sucker off my Kathleen's Black and some of the cuttings were thick, around 1" in diameter.

There are so many variables in having success with cuttings, size is just one of them. I've successfully rooted some Kathleen's Black that were thick (thanks again), and also cuttings of other varieties that were thin. Freshness, moisture, temperature, mix, care in handling, genetic variation, time of year, health of mother tree, maturity of wood, 'adventures' in the mail and of course 'luck' are just a few other variables. The perfect sized cutting (whatever that is) won't root if enough of the other factors are not up to snuff.

I think thicker ones can withstand less than ideal conditions better than thinner ones and still successfully root and grow.

Hmmm... so do you mean they've finally answer the age-old question?

The...chicken?

I've had the best luck with finger sized cuttings.

For me, if the branch large in width so difficult for cutting, its better for air layering (just need about 3 weeks for rooted).
Then the small branch cut for cutting.

Thanks for the answers folks. I have air layered a few larger branches this year, but there is a lot more that will have to go before we can wrap it for winter. I'm going to give away and save the prime specimens in the refrigerator and try rooting the rest . I think I will bury a few chunks in a well-drained spot in my garden for the winter, also. I had one cutting I did that to actually sprout early last summer, but I forgot about it and it dried out.

Aaron I got your HC air layer potted up. I'll make sure that it does Ok before I drop it off.