Ficus Retusa - thickest cutting survival rates

[marineman16]

I have a large Ficus Retusa that has given me many, many smaller cuttings over the years, and I have a 90% or better survival rate on them. I simply shove them in some dirt and they grow, almost without fail.

I have been experimenting with some larger branches, up to 1" in diameter, and I'm finding my success rates are dropping very quickly. I've tried air-layering a couple times, but I'm trying to get it "down to a science" as to when a branch is too thick to cut and plant and air-layering should be the path forward.

Curious on other's experiences here.

 

[akillas]

why dont you give https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/rooting-whole-japanese-maple-branches.66098/ a try. People seem to have decent success with fairly thick cuttings! Ficus should be a stroll in the park.

 

[marineman16]

why dont you give https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/rooting-whole-japanese-maple-branches.66098/ a try. People seem to have decent success with fairly thick cuttings! Ficus should be a stroll in the park.

I have a couple thicker cuttings going through this exact process right now, thanks to the post you shared. For years, I have a small, portable greenhouse all my cutting have gone in for at least 1-3 months (depending on the species). I mist it all pretty heavily daily. So far, success rates for the thicker ficus cuttings in the 3/4-1" cuts seem to be on par with just shoving them straight in some soil in the greenhouse. It's not blowing my mind, at least not yet. From an environmental perspective, it seems my longer term approach has largely mirrored what the method above does anyways - especially when you get to the point of people making larger scale systems.

It seems that 3/4" point is about when the cuttings get finicky. Anything under that, I almost can't make them NOT root.

 

[akillas]

Ficus is a bit hesitant to root from hardwood but with a bit of foliage on it and humidity control you can root an inch thick trunk or more. Air layering is very easy too, the roots are quite fast to form, and you can target thicker parts!

The above method is a simple and effective way to achieve easy rooting, even in stubborn cultivars/species, that does not require constant misting/misting setup/greenhouse or any kind of expensive propagator. Of course there are several methods, each with their own merits.

Try a very thick cutting with some foliage on it, i think you would be surprised.

Instead of misting several times a day, just ventilate your cuttings once every week or so. With your time excess then, you could worry about your more fancy bonsai species!

 

[Ply]

For pretty much any species, after a a certain thickness it becomes harder for a cutting to succeed. I'd reckon ficus are no different.

Personally any ficus cutting above roughly 1/2 inch I airlayer. It's safer, and ficus air layer well. Right now im air layering (well technically ground layering) a 3 inch ish ficus trunk, kind of as an experiment to see how thick you can air layer ficus. So far its doing fine, we'll see how it goes.

Woodie stemmed cuttings tend tend to all be succesful for me. Outdoors, organic soil, full shade or near full shade. Outdoors is key for me. Ive tried taking indoors a few years back and had a large % failing - humidity seems to be a huge factor with ficus.

I've seen videos of succesful fist size ficus cuttings in the tropics, but they key word there is tropics. I highly doubt thats possible in my climate.

You could experiment with humidity, (bottom) temperature, soil type, vigor of the mother plant, season, amount of foliage left on cutting. It's probably possible, but at a certain point an air layer is probably more convenient.

 

[marineman16]

For pretty much any species, after a a certain thickness it becomes harder for a cutting to succeed. I'd reckon ficus are no different.

Personally any ficus cutting above roughly 1/2 inch I airlayer. It's safer, and ficus air layer well. Right now im air layering (well technically ground layering) a 3 inch ish ficus trunk, kind of as an experiment to see how thick you can air layer ficus. So far its doing fine, we'll see how it goes.

Woodie stemmed cuttings tend tend to all be succesful for me. Outdoors, organic soil, full shade or near full shade. Outdoors is key for me. Ive tried taking indoors a few years back and had a large % failing - humidity seems to be a huge factor with ficus.

I've seen videos of succesful fist size ficus cuttings in the tropics, but they key word there is tropics. I highly doubt thats possible in my climate.

You could experiment with humidity, (bottom) temperature, soil type, vigor of the mother plant, season, amount of foliage left on cutting. It's probably possible, but at a certain point an air layer is probably more convenient.

I've had this particular parent tree for years, and it has provided me with hundreds of cuttings. I definitely agree that anything in the 1/2" or less range is pretty much as simple as shoving the cutting in dirt and waiting. It's almost foolproof. I think I'm inclined to agree with your take, of air-layering much over 1/2".

Similar to you, so it seems, the trunk on this parent is quite big. I've been "training" it to have several segments I intend to propagate into bonsai starts - which I anticipate will become very nice trees within a couple years. Air layering will be the only option for the big trunk sections - as expected all along. I just didn't want to 1) pitch, or 2) air layer the TONS of branches that aren't the main trunk, but still worthy of propagating. Even using the method shared above, I've not experienced the best results in the 3/4"+ thickness range.

One additional note - this summer has been insanely dry here in the Great Lakes region in the US. I suspect Mother Nature may be complicating things this year, just because environmental moisture, rain, etc have been a real challenge.

 

[Nickuk74]

I rooted the top of a "mallsai" ficus in water (following Bonsaify's "Mass Market to Masterpiece" videos). It was about an inch across. I started it off in perlite, but it did nothing for months, so I dipped it in more hormone then put it in water. The first sign came after about a week, then over a weekend, the roots grew about a cm. Unfortunately I was away and one side was touching the glass so the nebari is a bit one sided so if you can keep it central, it would be better.

 

[RozendaalArts]

I don't have a ton of experience but I get the sense that the thicker the cutting the more likely it is to rot instead of root in soil, so I think rooting them in water or sphagnum is a safer bet, or seal the cut first and then plant in soil

 

[akillas]

You can plant a thick one on pure fine perlite or pumice. Sterile and constant stable humidity are the key i think. I wouldnt seal the cut, thats where roots will emerge from..

 

[jason biggs]

these large cuttings are from a problem tree in my garden - they grow just as easily as thin cuttings... i do think certain ficus grow much easier from truncheon cuttings - this is thoningii or burkei maybe... i cannot get microcarpa cuttings to grow healthily in South Africa...

 

[marineman16]

I have PLENTY to work with, so I'll take a couple thick cuttings and try them in both perlite and spagnum (which, is obviously the go-to for air-layering, so that makes sense). It's worth a try!

@jason biggs, I mostly have retusa, but I do have a small microcarpa collection, too. Those cuttings grow every bit as easily here in US - Ohio. I don't have any thoningii or burkei, but those are a great representation of what I'd like to get to take off easier. I'm jealous you're in an area where ficus are able to be problem trees. Ours in this area are generally way less appealing. LOL!