I no longer cut my cuttings short, if I am mailing them I will cut them to length of the box but for my own use, I can gain a couple of years by cutting them longer.  These are 18-20" not counting new growth and close to 1" in caliber (LSU GOLD).

No pic there partner.

Thanks added picture

How do you root a cutting like the one in the pic

I root them like any other cutting except I use 2 liter bottle with the top cut off.  Anything tall works.

Huge jump start using a cutting of that size

I figure 3 years head start with a 1" caliber cutting.

Looks Good.... Will try a few cuttings this size to experiment.

Hi Danny,
Thanks for bringing up this subject.
I tried rooting bigger cuttings and just like you thinking I'll gain years on the size...but it takes much longer to root (I don't know why). What's your secret?
I wish I could find foot long or even 2 feet long ziplock... something like 2'x8" ziplock would be ideal.and then a dark box with that dimension , just to keep them there until they root.

Just curious why not just airlayer them?

Why not air layer? - Not my tree.

No secret - I root everything the same way in Sphagnum moss.

Longer zip locks - use the plastic bag newspapers are delivered in, or produce bags from the grocery.

Rooting time - I have not noticed any difference in time required to root the larger cuttings.

In do scrap the lower ends of the cuttings, seems to achieve larger area of roots on the trunk, when I first did the larger cuttings I did not scrape and the roots only came from the cut end, scraping got a larger area of roots.

Very interesting Danny, I have to give it a try, the practice seems worthy of getting a stronger, more fruitful tree in a shorter period of time. Good growing and thanks for posting your experience.

Good info, thanks! I often wonder if it's better to cut up a large cutting for better chance of success or just leave it intact for stronger plants.

I have a branch that is about 4 foot long i stuck in the ground last November i put it two foot deep all the branches died but if i scatch the bark off on top of the trunk its green. I have fogot about it till this post. Lol. Still hoping.

I am just a bit skeptical accepting 'a couple of years lead' by using longer cutting. A well grown cutting of regular 7" to 10" length in reasonably good zone like 6b can have as good production in its 2nd year as the one from a long cutting.
It needs side by side growing the same variety of the standard size and long cutings at least a couple of lots to establsih such fact.

Hey Danny, those cuttings look strong. In the pic it looks like you're just using a plastic bin right. Do you cover it in any way to create some humidity? 

Size does matter, more trunk, more energy transferred from the roots, I think.  If I start a cutting that is .5" caliber and 8" long it will take at least 2 yrs to attain 1" caliber and 18" height.  I have started both side by side in the same container and have been doing so for three years so I think I have established that starting larger cuttings results in larger trees in a shorter time.  At least to my satisfaction.

These were started in a 3 gal pot inside a garbage bag.