So I've got a stump in my back yard that I cut back every year in the spring and the second growth in the fall, so I decided to try taking some cuttings and some air layerings just to see how things come out. I'm also attempting an air layering from some kind of pine tree back there, too.
I've got two cuttings in a seedling starter soil, and two in sphaglium moss (probably misspelled that). They've all been dipped in some diluted liquid root growth hormones, and so far, the soil specimens are doing well. Still upright and firm after two days, where the moss-planted cuttings have gotten weak and soft and have doubled over like cooked spaghetti.
The air layerings on both the maple and the pine seem unaffected, even though the maple is lying on the ground since the stem can't support the weight of soaked moss. Pictures soon!
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coffeehound
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I stumped sapling sugar maple that were due to go under the landscapers plow. So as a result I don't know if you need to take dormant cuttings before they leaf-out or with just the top two leaves clipped small. I never needed to try propagating maple.
Pines are incredibly slow to strike roots, Mike Dirr might say if they would benefit from bottom heat. I would comb through his Manual Of Woody Plants for his insight in propagating. The few bonsai themed examples used very small cuttings. I have to wonder out loud if starting from seed might not be faster. Bottom heat was not applied.
When I do propagate cuttings I use 1/2 sand and 1/2 peat most in a terrarium style enclosure. Any fresh rooting hormone will work fine.
Rooted cuttings go into bonsai style soil with virtually no organic compost, loess, or coir.
Pines are incredibly slow to strike roots, Mike Dirr might say if they would benefit from bottom heat. I would comb through his Manual Of Woody Plants for his insight in propagating. The few bonsai themed examples used very small cuttings. I have to wonder out loud if starting from seed might not be faster. Bottom heat was not applied.
When I do propagate cuttings I use 1/2 sand and 1/2 peat most in a terrarium style enclosure. Any fresh rooting hormone will work fine.
Rooted cuttings go into bonsai style soil with virtually no organic compost, loess, or coir.
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Intriguedbybonsai
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- Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:03 pm
- Location: Escondido, CA (USDA Zone 9-10)
I've never had any luck at all with air-layering pines. I tried some air-layers back in spring using probably the same method you did except the rooting hormone. Cut a ring around the bark, scrapping away the cambium, and wrapping in moist sphagnum moss with an enclosure of aluminum foil. A week or 2 goes by, and the needles start losing their green, and eventually turn brown. I would even peel back a bit of the foil just to see if the moss is still moist. It was but I never got any success. I'm not sure where I went wrong, but I have heard that pines are not easy trees to get cuttings.