can one perform the seedling cutting technique on a douglas fir?

[Francisharrington]

Last fall I collected several douglas fir, pseudotsuga menziesii, cones and started germinating them last month. It appears that I will have very good success and I was going to try the JPB seedling cutting technique and was wondering if anyone has had experience with seedling cuttings on a pseudotsuga menziesii. Thank you in advance for your input.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I have not done it myself but I believe it should work. Young plants are remarkably versatile, even if they don't behave like that as adults.
Do you need to though?
I bypassed the seedling cutting all together by sowing my plants in a shallow container and keep them small for the first year. Takes 6 months longer than seedling cutting, but the outcome is the same and the losses are way lower. In JBP I was looking at a 40+% loss and the survivors had mostly one tap root instead of a radial base.. Setting me back around 12 months.

 

[Francisharrington]

The goal is to get an improved base and radial roots. If the technique does not work it is a waste of time & seedlings. i think that i will have plenty of extra seedlings to 'waste' or experiment with so it is just a mater of time... in which case I guess i should rethink the starting with seed approach. my wife was right. I am too old for this hobby. Thank you WGW.

 

[dr.tenebris]

The goal is to get an improved base and radial roots. If the technique does not work it is a waste of time & seedlings. i think that i will have plenty of extra seedlings to 'waste' or experiment with so it is just a mater of time... in which case I guess i should rethink the starting with seed approach. my wife was right. I am too old for this hobby. Thank you WGW.

Starting from seed is a massive commitment.. but age shouldn't stop you from pursuing bonsai, I know most practitioners don't get started until they are older... There are other ways to get started in bonsai, from nursery stock (rafting techniques) to yamadori! Heck you can always purchase young plants that are a few years old to work with

The Internet offers all sorts of young trees if you want to have a 1-2 or even 3 year old tree to start with and it can be rather satisfying to have a tree that's had a little time to develop ripe and ready for the working.

 

[JeffS73]

I am confident it will work, I've had success on all pines, spruce and larch I've tried it on. Each cultivar responds differently to the root hormones.

 

[Shibui]

Also have not done this with Douglas fir but every other species I've tried responds well. Seedlings in general have all the hormones and energy to cope with root disruption which allows us to do stuff like this.
I've actually given up the total seedling cutting process. I now just really hard prune the roots back to small stubs wherever there's a cluster of lateral roots. That's enough to stimulate more laterals without setting the seedling back as much as total root removal. I think I get equally good roots from this as from seedling cuttings.
Just another possibility you might consider if you have concerns with going full cutting.