JonW
Shohin
Hi all,
Inspired by the JM maple cutting thread that went askew... I figured I'd share my Kotohime cuttings from this fall. I did some hard, structural pruning and got about 6 cuttings including some about the width of a pencil and others pretty thin / semi hardwood. The 3 thinner ones took - one is growing very vigorously and the other two have had leaves all winter, but not grown as much. I'm no expert, but some I'll post my process below the picture.
Inspired by the JM maple cutting thread that went askew... I figured I'd share my Kotohime cuttings from this fall. I did some hard, structural pruning and got about 6 cuttings including some about the width of a pencil and others pretty thin / semi hardwood. The 3 thinner ones took - one is growing very vigorously and the other two have had leaves all winter, but not grown as much. I'm no expert, but some I'll post my process below the picture.
- Took the cuttings in the morning, dipped in rooting hormone (I'm usually too lazy to use this stuff), planted in 1/8th inch pumice with sphagnum moss as a top-dressing. I think the finer bonsai medium works well - in the past, I used turface fines (not the dust, but smaller particles than I'd use for bonsai), but I stopped using turface in my mix and I'm using the last of it in less-preferred plants or as soil amendment.
- I placed these on top of my furnace (as a source of bottom heat) and only added supplemental lighting when I saw buds swelling
- Supplemental lighting: I used a 100-watt equivalent (so probably 10-15 watts) LED bright white bulb. Apparently 3-4k Kevlin can be a better grow light, but bright white also works and is what I had always used for vegetative growth
- As you might suspect, my furnace is in my basement, as are these cuttings. I keep my basement under 45-50 percent humidity, but the dehumidifier rarely needs to turn on in the winter, so probably dryer. The air temp is in the 60's but the furnace provides bottom heat.
- I find each species - even each variety - has its own preferences and nuances for cuttings. I strike 100% with ficus and schefflera, having done it for years, but failed the first couple tries. I'm sure I'll get better with maples, and Kotohime is an easier variety (I assume lots of auxin for the upright habit). I found with figs (ficus carica), bottom heat is very important, as is holding off on light until there are signs of growth. This seemed to work with these maples cuttings.
- No fertilizer until there is green growth, and then only very dilute fertilizer until stronger growth. Water moves toward salt and fertilizer has salts. This means the new, inefficient roots would be at risk for having water pulled OUT of them by fertilizer, rather than being able to absorb water.
- Since these were fall cuttings, no leaves. I saw a lot of people say they remove the terminal bud. I try experimenting with both approaches, since the terminal bud produces auxin and auxin moves down the stem to initiate root growth. I don't think I see a big difference between leaving or removing the growth tip - people remove it to stop the plant from losing water (since the tissue or more tender) or to stop green growth from occurring before roots grow to support it. I left a couple nodes below the soil, with the cut just below a node (not so close that cutting could damage the node) - nodes have more undifferentiated cells, which can become roots. Typically, I leave 2 small leaves or 2 leaves I've cut in half if they are larger.
- I tend to water right after taking the cutting to keep the cutting from desiccating. I know some people keep the cuttings dry by humid until they grow some callus, but I've never done this - I guess this avoids the risk of rot?
