It was a double post... tried to delete but you know how that goes...
It helps promote an even, radial rootbase and brings the level of the first branch lower to the soil surface.
Thank you, thats the experience that you don't get in a book
Actually, it depends on the book
. I first read about the cutting technique in Bonsai Today Magazine 15 years ago, and saw it again years later in the book Pines, by Stone Lantern. Never tried it until last year, but it's pretty cool.
Will you please report on these. Seems very further along than the optimal time for cutting.
Sure will. I won't have a large number to report on as I'm only filling the pots of cuttings that didn't make it... so far only 4 from the original batch and all in the last 7-10 days- moved them out in the sun right when the temps pushed 90 and the humidity dropped
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Ultimately, all the late season cuttings have survived and are growing well. All in all, The only cuttings that died (5) were probably exposed to full sun too quickly. Anyway, since I have lots of extra seedlings, I decided to make 6 more cuttings today...
I will be interested in the response, my findings are that waiting longer to do the radial stem cutting seems to create a faster root recovery. Having the longer growing season is a factor i am sure. However, i suspect the extra foliage and thus photosynthesis before the cut plays a large part. Because the stems are very short and carefully cut, the uptake of water and nutrients does not seem too compromised. My experience over the past decade seems to indicate that waiting a bit longer actually speeds the recovery and thus the overall lag time from this procedure. What appears to slow down the development actually speeds it up in the long term.
You got it frank. I've seen some like Jonas use sand so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm mixing things up with each batch of cuttings, trying new things, including substrate. We'll see how these latest cuttings perform... there's one in the mix with 3-4" of floppy, new growth... I've been quite impressed with the resilience of these cuttings but if that one survives...
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Thanks. I hoped they'd be further along but they only received 3-4 hours of direct sun once they were moved out of the shade... gotta rethink my benches and perhaps build a few more where sunlight can be maximized, but that's the steepest part of my back yard... sigh.
