Bravura Bonsai
Mame
I am new here and new to bonsai. I started bonsai by collecting a mulberry seedling in September 2020 during the lockdown. Ever since then ive had a fascination with bonsai and growing trees. Now i have a huge collection incliding trident maples (http://shorturl.at/ckH17) but japanese maple cuttings escape me.
I have tried 3 times with softwood cuttings in the summer time. It is summer here in south africa. You can see my method in the link above and i am unsure how to proceed. I have a new batch of cuttings that i have started using the method as follows:
1. Long vigorous shoot selection. I chose the extended shoots that are growing outside the shape of the canopy.
2. Making 5 -7 bud cuttings without the terminal tip. I only made the cuttings very short and left 2 healthy whole leaves at the top with a stub for die back at the top where the growing tip was. The cuttings are all this years growth no thicker than a standard pencil.
3. I placed the cuttings in a well draining moist medium for rooting. The cuttings where planted so that only 2 buds (including the pair with the leaves) were above ground and 3 or more buds were under the ground. I took this step in hopes of preserving moisture in my cuttings as i would not be coving them with a humidity dome/chamber or covering them with a plastic. Most of the cuttings are under the ground.
4. I did not use a humidity chamber. I fear too much humidity is why we all fail at rooting these cuttings. I have rooted evergreen trees using high humidity but my deciduous cuttings all seem to have their leaves turn brown and die even in the high humidity so i am opting to place the cuttings in the shade uncovered.
Tl;dr: i an trying to root japanese maple cuttings in summer and will post an update as there is no resource availlable on how to easily propagate this tree from softwood cuttings. I will post pictures if this gains interest and document the cuttings failure and success to put this matter to bed.
I have tried 3 times with softwood cuttings in the summer time. It is summer here in south africa. You can see my method in the link above and i am unsure how to proceed. I have a new batch of cuttings that i have started using the method as follows:
1. Long vigorous shoot selection. I chose the extended shoots that are growing outside the shape of the canopy.
2. Making 5 -7 bud cuttings without the terminal tip. I only made the cuttings very short and left 2 healthy whole leaves at the top with a stub for die back at the top where the growing tip was. The cuttings are all this years growth no thicker than a standard pencil.
3. I placed the cuttings in a well draining moist medium for rooting. The cuttings where planted so that only 2 buds (including the pair with the leaves) were above ground and 3 or more buds were under the ground. I took this step in hopes of preserving moisture in my cuttings as i would not be coving them with a humidity dome/chamber or covering them with a plastic. Most of the cuttings are under the ground.
4. I did not use a humidity chamber. I fear too much humidity is why we all fail at rooting these cuttings. I have rooted evergreen trees using high humidity but my deciduous cuttings all seem to have their leaves turn brown and die even in the high humidity so i am opting to place the cuttings in the shade uncovered.
Tl;dr: i an trying to root japanese maple cuttings in summer and will post an update as there is no resource availlable on how to easily propagate this tree from softwood cuttings. I will post pictures if this gains interest and document the cuttings failure and success to put this matter to bed.
