Propagation of Soft Wood Cuttings

[BiscoDrew]

I get that junipers are outdoor trees, however at this stage should the specimen be kept indoors/room temp? Does it have to be tented or can it be kept in the open air (but moist)? Is winter even the proper time of year to do this or does that matter? Having difficulty finding thorough info for my specific set of circumstances. Recs welcomed.

 

[BiscoDrew]

*Outdoor Bonsai trees... lol

 

[JoeR]

Juniper cuttings are best taken in early spring, March ish for my area, about match-stuck size root best. Perlite works well with a humidity dome

 

[leatherback]

I take cuttings when I trim my trees. I just finished a round of trimming. I used to strike them just in the garden, plopping them into the ground with good results. Now I am taking better care of them, as I actually need some grafting material. The trimmings move into a pot with perlite in the first half inch or so. Pack them tight, nearly touching. Water well. Then place in a bright spot, ensure they never dry out. In winter here that means, just put them outside. If I take cuttings in spring I put the whole thing in a zip-lock bag.

I expect the cuttings I took the last weeks to root in early spring, overcrowding and needing a transplant late summer.

They never move inside.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Does sphagnum help with moisture retention? I filled the top of my pit with it using this logic.

 

[leatherback]

Does sphagnum help with moisture retention? I filled the top of my pit with it using this logic.

Never tried it. Here, the birds love the stuff so it is not good for cutting

 

[HorseloverFat]

Does sphagnum help with moisture retention? I filled the top of my pit with it using this logic.

It will DEFINITELY retain moisture....

How much is “filling the pit”? Out of curiosity.

I also don’t use sphagnum much..

Trying to get a decent mental picture.. for “balance’s” sake.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Sry. *Pot. Just a layer on the surface to keep the air from drying out the bonsai soil while I'm trying not to fiddle around with it.

 

[BiscoDrew]

This is the cutting.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Actually its about 50/50 bonsai soil and organic potting soil.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Actually its about 50/50 bonsai soil and organic potting soil.

Seems like that will do the trick!

Start experimenting.. everyone has their own “cuttings game” full of methods and procedures from MUCH scientific method-type trial and error.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Here's my little plant setup
(80W mercury vapor bulb)

 

[HorseloverFat]

Here's my little plant setup
(80W mercury vapor bulb)

Nice looking area they have there!

I can tell YOU enjoy spending time in that space also.

I’d even drop that light a little more. like 3(ish) inches... also look for more.. it can never hurt.. here’s a LED panel that I’m very fond of (I own THREE of this specific unit.)Dirt cheap and you can SELECT your spectrum compilation (to a degree)

225 LED Grow Light Lamp Ultrathin Panel UFO SMD Bulbs Indoor Plant Veg Flower | eBay

Easy to Set up - Ultrathin & lightweight designed panel for easily hanging anywhere you want with hanging kit included; Hook and carabiners for convenient place and remove, free to change the position.

www.ebay.com

I actually have a fourth on the way.. i have other light panels too.. but when I found THESE (that link).. i’ve been buying them, solely, since.... the price is SOO good.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Nice looking area they have there!

I can tell YOU enjoy spending time in that space also.

I’d even drop that light a little more. like 3(ish) inches... also look for more.. it can never hurt.. here’s a LED panel that I’m very fond of (I own THREE of this specific unit.)Dirt cheap and you can SELECT your spectrum compilation (to a degree)

225 LED Grow Light Lamp Ultrathin Panel UFO SMD Bulbs Indoor Plant Veg Flower | eBay

Easy to Set up - Ultrathin & lightweight designed panel for easily hanging anywhere you want with hanging kit included; Hook and carabiners for convenient place and remove, free to change the position.

www.ebay.com

I actually have a fourth on the way.. i have other light panels too.. but when I found THESE (that link).. i’ve been buying them, solely, since.... the price is SOO good.

Cool! I wasn't sure how much lux was appropriate. Will look into those LEDs too XD

 

[HorseloverFat]

Also Humidity is important.. but in other conversations with Queens of Bonsai recently, , I learned that the 40-50 percent range is commonly acceptable AND fosters less fungal growth... mine still ends up 60-65, but I’m working on it.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Also Humidity is important.. but in other conversations with Queens of Bonsai recently, , I learned that the 40-50 percent range is commonly acceptable AND fosters less fungal growth... mine still ends up 60-65, but I’m working on it.

I'm just spritzing it every once in a while to keep it from drying out; Trying to use moss in place of humidity beads for the time being.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I'm just spritzing it every once in a while to keep it from drying out; Trying to use moss in place of humidity beads for the time being.

Ok.. well to address two things... do some research on “misting”.. the ideas are conflicting. I do not PERSONALLY advocate “bottle-misting”... but it’s YOUR environment.. YOU make the rules. I’m just advising you to do a little reading on the subject to come to your own conclusion.

I use a cool mist humidifier with an auto-fog.. just NOT on “C” (constant)

Also.. indoor moss... CAN be tricky.. some people do it.. some don’t. I advise the same type of “read and learn for yourself” approach to this.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Ok.. well to address two things... do some research on “misting”.. the ideas are conflicting. I do not PERSONALLY advocate “bottle-misting”... but it’s YOUR environment.. YOU make the rules. I’m just advising you to do a little reading on the subject to come to your own conclusion.

I use a cool mist humidifier with an auto-fog.. just NOT on “C” (constant)

Also.. indoor moss... CAN be tricky.. some people do it.. some don’t. I advise the same type of “read and learn for yourself” approach

 

[Harunobu]

Nice looking area they have there!

I can tell YOU enjoy spending time in that space also.

I’d even drop that light a little more. like 3(ish) inches... also look for more.. it can never hurt.. here’s a LED panel that I’m very fond of (I own THREE of this specific unit.)Dirt cheap and you can SELECT your spectrum compilation (to a degree)

225 LED Grow Light Lamp Ultrathin Panel UFO SMD Bulbs Indoor Plant Veg Flower | eBay

Easy to Set up - Ultrathin & lightweight designed panel for easily hanging anywhere you want with hanging kit included; Hook and carabiners for convenient place and remove, free to change the position.

www.ebay.com

I actually have a fourth on the way.. i have other light panels too.. but when I found THESE (that link).. i’ve been buying them, solely, since.... the price is SOO good.

Those panels may be very good value for money. But I have some issues with buying these. Yes, they are cheap. But 1) they are blurple and 2) the efficiency or PAR values are not listed.

I looked into this a bit and it seems that with technology today, you should definitely go with white light full spectrum LEDs. These are very efficient blue LEDs coated with phosphorus to generate white light. This helps in many ways, including being able to see how your plant looks in semi-normal light.
Second, you really want to know how much light the light produces and how efficiently it does so. Forget lumen or lux completely. What matters is how much photosynthetically useful photons it uses. And the efficiency tells you how much watts it turns into how much PAR.

So say you want to root uttings in a 50 by 50cm area. You need about 400 micromoles of photons per second per square meter in that area. Since you have 0.25 of a square meter, you need a total PAR of 100 micromoles per second of photons. A good value for a cheap LED is 1.5 PAR/watt. So your light should only cost you about 67 watts of power. If you have a high end LED, you pay more for the LED, but the efficiency can go towards 2 PAR/watt. So you'd only need a 50 watt light. And in the long run you will save money on less electricity. If you have a larger area, you need a light that outputs more PAR. If your LED is both low wattage and low efficiency, it will produce a poor light level.
All this also tells you how much area you can cover and how high you should hang your light.

Of course if you just use a light to add a bit to the ambient natural background light, that all is a bit moot. But for most of us it is winter time with short days, so then you do depend on the LED for most of the day.

Since there are so many good and relatively cheap LED lights out there, it makes sense to buy at least a light that gives these numbers publicly.

 

[BiscoDrew]

Yea, I did see that online. By misting "every once and awhile" I mean like once a day just enough to keep it not bone dry. Seems like a reasonably low amount of moisture to me. I only properly water when the soil is almost bone dry too (except for the cuttings- those I keep a little wetter but not much).