I had about 1500 cuttings put in 1 gal pots last winter. I left them to the mercy of the winter weather. I put about 100 cuttings on the ground on sandy soil and covered them with about one foot of forest topsoil (I live in the mountains so all natural foorest topsoil). I put another load of cuttings horizontally in trays and covered them with 3 inches of soil and left them to the winter weather.

Results. 1 gallon pottd cuttings...

Lost about 2/3 of them. Winter snow and rain soaks pots and even with holes at bottom of nursery pots water doesn't drain well enough and rots most cuttings. Conclusion>> Keep pots under cover and water maybe once every 4 to 6 weeks. Cuttings like it damp not wet.

Results. Horizontal trays....Since trys have a zillion holes in bottom the cuttings faired better than pots. Good drainage is ultra important. Still lost quite a few cuttings though. I attributed that to having only 2 or 3 inches of protective soil over the top of them. They freeze. Also, even with lots of holes in trays, the plastic hangs on to water and rots cuttings.

Results. Layin cuttings directly on ground with good drainage and covering with 1 foot of forest topsoil....

Close to 85% sucess. I attribute this to having enough soil on top of cuttings to keep them warm enough and enough distance between cuttings and earth for excellent drainage. Again, all of my cuttings were exposed to harsh mountain weather conditiond over the winter. I will start all my cuttings directly on the ground covered with a foot of topsoil this coming winter. I'll post pics of my sucessful trees in the near future. FF