Wild service tree

The wild service tree is a native, fully hardy deciduous tree and survives the winter in the lowlands of Germany, Austria and Switzerland without protection. Only young plants in their first year in place can you loosely protect around the trunk area with brushwood or hessian until they are well rooted.

The most reliable way to propagate the wild service tree is by sowing, but it requires patience. Collect the fully ripe fruits in October, take out the stones and stratify them. A short warm phase of about 2 to 4 weeks at room temperature, followed by at least 14 to 16 weeks cold in the fridge at 3 to 5 °C, has proved its worth. Sow the pretreated seeds from March in pots or directly in autumn into an outdoor bed and cover them with about a finger's breadth of soil. Germination often comes only in the second spring. The seedlings grow very slowly at first, because they first build up a strong root system. Note that seedlings can differ from the mother tree through cross-pollination.

For selections propagated true to type (e.g. chosen fruit forms), grafting is the method of choice. In late winter, cut scions from the desired mother plant and graft them onto rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) rootstocks, the usual rootstock in nurseries. Whip grafting is best done in winter (December/January), budding in summer, when the bark of the rootstock lifts easily. Bind the graft union airtight and keep the plant moist and warm until it takes.

As a third, rarely used option, in summer you can bend young, flexible shoots down to the ground as layers, pin them with a wooden hook, nick the contact point lightly and cover it with soil. After a year, when the layers have formed their own roots, separate them from the mother tree and pot them up. Cuttings hardly root with the wild service tree and are not practical without laboratory propagation.