A "Q" for Brent
- Thread starter irene_b
- Start date
buddhamonk
Chumono
I'd love to know that as well
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Brent was here today - he probably just didn't see this post.
buddhamonk
Chumono
I guess we just need to bump this thread one more time =)
Brent
Mame
Irene
I'm probably not the best person to answer this. My success with 'Shimpaku' cuttings has been hit or miss. Some years I get almost 100% take and other years less than 5%. The standard procedure is to take cuttings of new growth with just a bit of brown wood at the bottom. Cuttings are taken in March and are usually rooted by mid summer. Bottom heat is not necessary but will speed rooting. Hormone level doesn't seem to be too critical. I have used everything from 0.3% IBA to 1.8% IBA. The higher levels will 'burn' the base of the cuttings, so if you use higher levels, dip only about 1/4 inch of the stem into the powder. Physiological conditions seem to be a great factor, but I am still trying to determine what they are. Usually this implies an important carbon/nitrogen ratio. Cuttings from weak, underfed plants have given me poor results, but overly nitrolized fast growing shoots don't do that well either, although greener shoots (more juvenile) cuttings appear to show less necrosis from the IBA. Medium may also be a factor. I have always used a perlite or bark/perlite mix, but some of the best cuttings I have seen come from sand.
Brent
EvergreenGardenworks
I'm probably not the best person to answer this. My success with 'Shimpaku' cuttings has been hit or miss. Some years I get almost 100% take and other years less than 5%. The standard procedure is to take cuttings of new growth with just a bit of brown wood at the bottom. Cuttings are taken in March and are usually rooted by mid summer. Bottom heat is not necessary but will speed rooting. Hormone level doesn't seem to be too critical. I have used everything from 0.3% IBA to 1.8% IBA. The higher levels will 'burn' the base of the cuttings, so if you use higher levels, dip only about 1/4 inch of the stem into the powder. Physiological conditions seem to be a great factor, but I am still trying to determine what they are. Usually this implies an important carbon/nitrogen ratio. Cuttings from weak, underfed plants have given me poor results, but overly nitrolized fast growing shoots don't do that well either, although greener shoots (more juvenile) cuttings appear to show less necrosis from the IBA. Medium may also be a factor. I have always used a perlite or bark/perlite mix, but some of the best cuttings I have seen come from sand.
Brent
EvergreenGardenworks
I had just trimmed a dozen or so 10 inch pot shimps in October, so I put up the 'snips' in pure perlite cause I can't stand to toss the pretty little things. In the shade 60%, a little mist, no hormone dip and the little things are rooting like crazy. Can't figure?
darrellw
Mame
I did a batch last September or so. I used "dip and grow", the gel type (it is what I had). I put them in pumice, and I got about 75% success. They are still in the rooting flat, I plan to pot them up in the spring.
waltr1
Yamadori
I did some in November a couple of years ago. Used 0.3% IBA in fine Turface. I keep them outside through the winter and 8 out of 18 rooted some time in the spring.
Martin Sweeney
Chumono
Waltr1,
I did something similar last winter as well, took some late fall cuttings, put them in 1/2 used bonsai soil and perlite, set them under a potted azalea, in some mulch, with the rest of the trees and let them root over the winter and got about the same percentage to root.
Not recommending this as a method for all over the country, but it did work here in the Charlotte, NC area.
Regards,
Martin
I did something similar last winter as well, took some late fall cuttings, put them in 1/2 used bonsai soil and perlite, set them under a potted azalea, in some mulch, with the rest of the trees and let them root over the winter and got about the same percentage to root.
Not recommending this as a method for all over the country, but it did work here in the Charlotte, NC area.
Regards,
Martin
Eric Schrader
Chumono
cuttings
First, I've not had good success here in CA with Shimpaku cuttings. I took 25 or so without rooting hormone a couple years ago and had 2 take. Actually, I'm not so good with cuttings in general, perhaps just because I find seeds to be a much more interesting avenue (although for juniper a difficult one)
Anyway, a year or so ago I bought a copy of "The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation" by Michael A. Dirr and Charles W. Heuser. This is a great book because it contains information on propagation for something like a thousand species. Additionally it gives you ideas on different things to try to make your cuttings more successful such as:
-Mist
-Bottom heat
-different mixtures of growing media
-Time of year
-type and concentration of rooting hormone
-size and shape of cuttings
-age of parent plant
-health of parent plant/growing conditions - pot-vs-ground
And the book also indicates when seeds or tissue culture are the more common practice for a species. Interesting that it does not seem to address the issue of slicing the cutting versus ripping it from the plant.
Looking down the list of different Chinese Juniper cultivars there is as much variation from one to the next as there is between species in many cases. I wouldn't volunteer more information in honor of the book being copyrighted material. Perhaps though you could find it on Google books.
First, I've not had good success here in CA with Shimpaku cuttings. I took 25 or so without rooting hormone a couple years ago and had 2 take. Actually, I'm not so good with cuttings in general, perhaps just because I find seeds to be a much more interesting avenue (although for juniper a difficult one)
Anyway, a year or so ago I bought a copy of "The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation" by Michael A. Dirr and Charles W. Heuser. This is a great book because it contains information on propagation for something like a thousand species. Additionally it gives you ideas on different things to try to make your cuttings more successful such as:
-Mist
-Bottom heat
-different mixtures of growing media
-Time of year
-type and concentration of rooting hormone
-size and shape of cuttings
-age of parent plant
-health of parent plant/growing conditions - pot-vs-ground
And the book also indicates when seeds or tissue culture are the more common practice for a species. Interesting that it does not seem to address the issue of slicing the cutting versus ripping it from the plant.
Looking down the list of different Chinese Juniper cultivars there is as much variation from one to the next as there is between species in many cases. I wouldn't volunteer more information in honor of the book being copyrighted material. Perhaps though you could find it on Google books.
