Rooting From Branch Clippings

[Godschick]

Hi! So I’ve tried a couple times to get roots from some branch clippings from a few trees. I’ve mostly been experimenting but not successfully. If you guys have ideas on how to do this properly, I would totally be appreciative. I’ve heard different things so I just wanted to get some more ideas. I currently have Chinese Elm and Japanese Maple clippings. I wanted to get some advice before I did anything. Right now I just stuck them in a cup of water, misted them heavily and put a bag over them. I’ve heard different types of soil to put them in, cut back all the leaves except for maybe 2 to 5 and some have said leave them in water for several days before you actually put them in the soil. I’ve also heard to cut away the bottom portion of cambium before you put root powder on them and put them in soil. Soooo yes any advice is very appreciated because I want start doing this correctly. Thank you

 

[leatherback]

This is how I do maples:

With thick elk branches I put them in water for 24hrs before I plant them.

 

[0soyoung]

I’ve also heard to cut away the bottom portion of cambium before you put root powder on them

Utter nonsense!

Adventitious rooting happens because of a high level of auxin IN cambium cells.
Rooting hormones are artificial auxins.

Possibly thus 'authority' meant simply removing the bark, which would expose more cambium cells to adsorb the IBA/NAA from the powder.

 

[Godschick]

Utter nonsense!

Adventitious rooting happens because of a high level of auxin IN cambium cells.
Rooting hormones are artificial auxins.

Possibly thus 'authority' meant simply removing the bark, which would expose more cambium cells to adsorb the IBA/NAA from the powder.

Thank you you for redirecting on that little piece of information. Let’s hope they simply meant removing the bark. Would you recommend removing a little bit of the bark? Or leaving it as is? Thanks again!

 

[0soyoung]

Generally I leave it 'as is'.

More commonly, practitioners wound the base of the cutting before dusting/dipping by making a series of short vertical cuts around the base. This was even recommended for air layering hard-to-root species (short cuts just above the ring of removed bark), which I have tried, but to no avail.

@Canada Bonsai has a very good tutorial on propagating Japanese maples by cuttings.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Thanks @0soyoung

I do almost all of my Japanese Maples in the way I describe in the PDF (link below), as well as my Ume, Cherries, etc. For cultivars that are especially difficult to root, I do the following:

- Prepare your cutting to their final size in the evening (I do it around sun down after a cloudy day -- don't use dehydrated shoots!)
- Put them in a jar (no more than 1/3 submerged) in liquid rooting hormone that has been diluted in water (the concentration limit varies by species and cultivar, too much and you'll burn your cuttings)
- Let them sit in the water/hormone overnight
- Plant them in the morning

I cannot say that this liquid approach is always more efficient than the powder approach since I have only ever used this liquid approach on cultivars where the powder approach did not work, although I did have better success with liquid in those particular instances. (This does not imply that cultivars that root easily with the power approach will be even better with the liquid approach!). Moreover, my comparison was in no way systematic but instead purely casual observation-- one way did not work, so I tried the other (with all else being equal) and it happened to work. I hope to do something more systematic in the future, maybe in 2023/2024

Japanese Maple Propagation

CLICK HERE for Japanese Maple Propagation document

canada-bonsai.myshopify.com

 

[Bonsai Nut]

This is how I do maples:

I have never seen that gel rooting hormone. Do you have a link to the product description?

My general go-to is this: Dip N Grow

It is a combination of IPA and NAA and you dilute it to the strength you want depending on the plant material you are working with.

Perhaps because I am lazy, or because I have far too many cuttings going at any one time, I find that Zip-Lok bags, while effective, take too much work to open and close. Rather, I use 1 gallon black nursery containers and clear plastic deli containers like these:



They fit tightly on top of the nursery containers, and when I need to water, I just lift the lid, water, and replace

 

[leatherback]

I have never seen that gel rooting hormone. Do you have a link to the product description?

 

[Maiden69]

I have never seen that gel rooting hormone

Clonex has been recommended by a lot of "YouTubers." That's what I use and "so far, so good." My only failures have been MY mistakes... but I don't do a lot of propagation. Dip n Grow is what Jonas recommends, he did a very interesting experiment with JBP seedling cuttings and various concentrations.

https://www.amazon.com/HydroDynamics-Clonex-Rooting-Gel-100/dp/B004Q3NN4W/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3TPHQSK2R07F3&keywords=Clonex&qid=1656416932&sprefix=clone%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-8

Finding the right hormone levels for making seedling-cuttings - Bonsai Tonight

Varying the exposure to rooting hormone can make a big difference when making pine seedling-cuttings.

bonsaitonight.com

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Clonex has been recommended by a lot of "YouTubers." That's what I use and "so far, so good." My only failures have been MY mistakes... but I don't do a lot of propagation. Dip n Grow is what Jonas recommends, he did a very interesting experiment with JBP seedling cuttings and various concentrations.

The Clonex that @leatherback uses is 0.33% IBA. Dip n Grow is 1.0% IBA and 0.5% NAA - but you dilute to get to the proper strength. It should be noted that Dip n Grow is mostly ethanol and alcohol and is designed to be a "quick dip" solution (3 - 5 seconds). It is not designed as a soak, and I just checked their web site and they specifically mention that soaking cuttings may be harmful/detrimental.

FWIW - Dip n Grow suggests a 5x dilution rate for hardwood cuttings (Japanese Maples) so they are recommending a 0.2% IBA and 0.1% NAA solution strength.

 

[Maiden69]

The Clonex that @leatherback uses is 0.33% IBA.

Ok, the one they sell in the US is .31% IBA

 

[Bonsai Nut]

FWIW I checked out that Jonas article. He didn't mention the source for the two strengths he used - 10x dilution and 5x dilution. 10x dilution is what Dip n Grow recommends for softwoods. 5x dilution is what they recommend for hardwoods. Interestingly, he got the best results from 5x dilution... but shorter dip duration. As soon as he got above 2 minutes, his results started to suffer (for this limited trial). This would tend to back up what the manufacturer says about not allowing the cuttings to sit in the hormone solution too long.

 

[Maiden69]

@Bonsai Nut

Third paragraph: I used Dip-N-Grow liquid rooting hormone for all of the cuttings, but I varied the dilution and duration.

 

[Paradox]

I have never seen that gel rooting hormone. Do you have a link to the product description?

https://www.amazon.com/HydroDynamics-Clonex-Rooting-Gel-100/dp/B004Q3NN4W/ref=sxin_23?asc_contentid=amzn1.osa.fbb6562b-8e61-42df-bf97-5d44bc7b42db.ATVPDKIKX0DER.en_US&asc_contenttype=article&ascsubtag=amzn1.osa.fbb6562b-8e61-42df-bf97-5d44bc7b42db.ATVPDKIKX0DER.en_US&content-id=amzn1.sym.7af78514-85e1-493b-be23-03c007cfdadb%3Aamzn1.sym.7af78514-85e1-493b-be23-03c007cfdadb&creativeASIN=B004Q3NN4W&crid=24RLZXWHVY0GY&cv_ct_cx=clonex+rooting+gel&cv_ct_id=amzn1.osa.fbb6562b-8e61-42df-bf97-5d44bc7b42db.ATVPDKIKX0DER.en_US&cv_ct_pg=search&cv_ct_we=asin&cv_ct_wn=osp-single-source&keywords=clonex+rooting+gel&linkCode=oas&pd_rd_i=B004Q3NN4W&pd_rd_r=af4a1b20-6576-4e6a-a163-aad8e8d99564&pd_rd_w=wS54Q&pd_rd_wg=I8Bhi&pf_rd_p=7af78514-85e1-493b-be23-03c007cfdadb&pf_rd_r=6NPPM83PDMBKES1EG6G5&qid=1656422895&sprefix=clonex%2Caps%2C155&sr=1-1-caaa5131-d590-4cdb-a33f-d9ce40ca3e20&tag=happysprout-20

 

[Godschick]

Thanks @0soyoung

I do almost all of my Japanese Maples in the way I describe in the PDF (link below), as well as my Ume, Cherries, etc. For cultivars that are especially difficult to root, I do the following:

- Prepare your cutting to their final size in the evening (I do it around sun down after a cloudy day -- don't use dehydrated shoots!)
- Put them in a jar (no more than 1/3 submerged) in liquid rooting hormone that has been diluted in water (the concentration limit varies by species and cultivar, too much and you'll burn your cuttings)
- Let them sit in the water/hormone overnight
- Plant them in the morning

I cannot say that this liquid approach is always more efficient than the powder approach since I have only ever used this liquid approach on cultivars where the powder approach did not work, although I did have better success with liquid in those particular instances. (This does not imply that cultivars that root easily with the power approach will be even better with the liquid approach!). Moreover, my comparison was in no way systematic but instead purely casual observation-- one way did not work, so I tried the other (with all else being equal) and it happened to work. I hope to do something more systematic in the future, maybe in 2023/2024

Japanese Maple Propagation

CLICK HERE for Japanese Maple Propagation document

canada-bonsai.myshopify.com

Thank you so much for sharing this document! Super valuable and I see how I’ve been doing multiple things wrong and why I’ve been unsuccessful. I do have one quick question though, in the document it talked about taking cuttings from juvenile trees that are 3 to 5 years old. What are the disadvantages of taking cuttings from parent trees that are older than that? Less of a success rate ?
Thank you again for sharing!

 

[Godschick]

I have never seen that gel rooting hormone. Do you have a link to the product description?

My general go-to is this: Dip N Grow

It is a combination of IPA and NAA and you dilute it to the strength you want depending on the plant material you are working with.

Perhaps because I am lazy, or because I have far too many cuttings going at any one time, I find that Zip-Lok bags, while effective, take too much work to open and close. Rather, I use 1 gallon black nursery containers and clear plastic deli containers like these:

View attachment 444262

They fit tightly on top of the nursery containers, and when I need to water, I just lift the lid, water, and replace

Thanks for this tip about the deli containers. I was trying to think of what I could use similar but this makes perfect sense. I was thinking at first 2 L empty bottles cut open on the bottom but the deli containers seem like a better option and less work. I struggled with the bags for sure.