I am by no means an expert, or even well-practiced, person around cuttings. I don’t have any Chinese Elms. However, I thought I’d just share my early spring, April 2020, American Elm cutting. This was at bud swelling time. I chopped an American Elm that was in a growing box down to about 5”. The top that was cut off was about 2” in diameter at the cut. I was planning to toss it out for burning. Just for kicks I stuck it in a plastic squat pot with a mix of standard potting soil and a very small amount of coarse substrate. No rooting treatment at all....just plunked, shoved, it in the soil. Put some heavy rocks around it for stability. I pushed it off to the side. Watered it when I watered other trees. Buds opened. Shoots grew. And it’s still growing wildly now....it’s like a thin density bush. I did not prune at all. I’ll wait until spring 2021. It was just weird....that flat cut top off a tree (about 12” in height and 2” diameter)....it’s growing healthy.
