When is the best time to get those cuttings and get them started? I read very controversial stuff online - some say Summer, some say early Spring, some even say the season doesn't matter so you can do it any time of the year.
Japanese Maple cuttings?
- Thread starter dani
- Start date
discusmike
Omono
When the soft wood begins to harden/semi ripe has always worked for me
Waldo Street Pottery
Chumono
I saw some large pieces where someone pruned their yard tree crepe murder style and wondered if wrist size cuttings would root.
What say ye nuts?
What say ye nuts?
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Wrist sized? I would say no - for Japanese maple. Far better to take an area layer on material that large.
When you say "dependent on the local climate" do you mean when it's summer time? Or Spring? We have 4 seasons here, end of this month we get Spring. But its 18C/57F here right now, very sunny and warm, so, we're half way there
KiwiPlantGuy
Omono
Hi dani,
I think @Solaris was saying that “your Spring/Summer may/will be different from theirs. And I am totally different again as in New Zealand it is Late Summer/Early Autumn.
So to answer your question - you are going to get many answers. And best of all is to experiment with your climate and do HEAPS of cuttings, all at different times of the year. So, some say Hardwood ( no leaves), and many say Semi- Hardwood ( when new growth hardens), so you can do Semi-Hardwood cuttings after a flush of growth etc - early Summer or mid Summer, and it all depend on lots of factors.
1. Prop mix you use - must be open, lots of oxygen, perlite and or pumice etc.
2. The strength of rooting hormone you use - 1-2% of IBA is recommended.
3. Bottom heat is advantageous, but not a total necessity.
4. Some sort of humidity/ misting system - eg sprays water every few minutes to the simple plastic bottle over a pot and sprinkle water in occasionally so cuttings don’t dry out.
I suppose the one most important fact is the rooting hormone as some cultivars root easily (common JM) where as some cultivars might root with difficulty and then not grow strongly enough to bother with. Hence why most JM cultivars are grafted.
Good luck in your efforts,
Charles
@KiwiPlantGuy thank you! Yes, I guess it's a trial and error. I purchased some stuff and I'd give it a try later this month probably and see how it goes. Thank you for the advices!
jmw_bonsai
Mame
As mentioned above, semi soft wood cuttings taken just as the new years growth starts to harden off. A general rule would be 2 months after leaf out. The new years growth is juvenile and roots quicker than say hardwoods. As Kiwi mentioned above, i have found the biggest help in success is misting. If you can mist them every 15-30 mins for 5-15 secs they can last for months without wilting which gives them time to root! I use a timer ~50$ that has a valve in it and hooks up to regular hose connections. Runs off of a battery, so no wiring needed. Just have to connect that up to a small amount of PVC and attach a small mister/fogger. I can get one of those for under ~10$.
RobertB
Chumono
Good info here.
RobertB
Chumono
What type of battery powered system are you using? Most of the ones I see limit the frequency. So by my rough estimate, I need a timer that cuts on 48 times throughout a day for 10 sec.
jmw_bonsai
Mame
Let me see if I can get a link posted. Keep in mind it is not just a timer, it controls a valve. SO not useful of trying to interface to a standalone valve.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N62RK...t=&hvlocphy=9029366&hvtargid=pla-349962589439
jmw_bonsai
Mame
I don't use the moisture sensor so I cover it with a plastic bag to keep it from working, there is no way to disable via software. It does have settings that allow you to not run the timer say from 7pm to 8am so it doesn't run at night when not needed. Since I cover it I haven't tried the rechargeable via solar option. The link I posted is to the newer model but still looks the same as what I have. If you google around on the brand, you can find other places that sell them. I bought mine at another site.
jmw_bonsai
Mame
The misters, actually foggers, I used come from Greenhouse megastore. Look there for some simple misting heads. There are plenty of irrigation ones, but I wanted something simple that just has a PVC interface.
jmw_bonsai
Mame
Since we are talking Japanese maple cuttings I thought I would post some of mine leafing out this spring. These were done summer of 2016.
The netafim misters are really nice!
jmw_bonsai
Mame
Yes so far I've been using the fogger model for misting.
I bought a couple of the watering ones but haven't set anything up to use them yet.
Dorky_gearhead
Shohin
I'd like to do do this some day. I'm thinking that I'll use a small essential oil defused with just water. The water particles from a defuser are much smaller than a humidifier!
It works great! The fog keeps humidity high without wetting the leaves.
This was my first attempt. I recently tried one of the small diffusers that fit inside, but there was no control over the rate of fog. It was too fast which led to excess water, and it tended to either run out or just turn itself off more frequently than I could check it.
Dorky_gearhead
Shohin
Does the small one use a transformer that drops the voltage down? Similar to a charger. If so you could control the fog rate with a potentiometer that's rated for more than the defuser's power supply.
