Prunus Mume Propagation by Hardwood Cuttings During Early Winter - The Peter Adams Method

[Canada Bonsai]

@River's Edge I was reading through old International Bonsai magazines, and came across an article from 1982 (no.1) written by Tomigoro Komaki on the propagation of prunus mume.

He recommends taking dormant cuttings in February, and fully burying them for a month in sand. 4 weeks later he digs them up, and the cuttings that have developed callous are planted.

Frank taking cuttings in November has obviously worked for you. Have you happened to try January or February yet? I wonder if there is a difference in terms of physiology (@0soyoung ?)

It's worth noting that this article is nearly 40 years old

 

[River's Edge]

@River's Edge I was reading through old International Bonsai magazines, and came across an article from 1982 (no.1) written by Tomigoro Komaki on the propagation of prunus mume.

He recommends taking dormant cuttings in February, and fully burying them for a month in sand. 4 weeks later he digs them up, and the cuttings that have developed callous are planted.

Frank taking cuttings in November has obviously worked for you. Have you happened to try January or February yet? I wonder if there is a difference in terms of physiology (@0soyoung ?)

It's worth noting that this article is nearly 40 years old

Two points come to mind.
February where? And outside in sand I presume. Likely cold situation therefore the same situation as me putting mine in the refrigerator ( dark and cold ) for a period of time until callus is formed, then planting and putting on a heat mat, but with restricted light until leaves emerge.
The physiology as I understand it is to slow down the production of leaves after flowering to allow for callus formation before depleting reserves that will assist leaf formation and thus root formation once photosynthesis begins and auxin contributes. ( WHEW OUT OF BREATH)
Reduction of light and temperature control as key factors.
Perhaps @Osoyoung has a more scientific or clearer explanation! But those were the factors I considered important to the process.

 

[0soyoung]

Sorry to let you guys down.
I've got nuthin to add.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

@River's Edge thank you!

Sorry I should have been clearer. Your procedure and Komaki's (in Japan, i presume) seem to be the same, except with regards to the timing of the cutting: November vs. February

Maybe I will try both this year! (and otherwise keep everything constant)

to slow down the production of leaves after flowering

Can I please ask if you allowed your successful cuttings to flower, or did you remove the flower buds or flowers before/as they opened?

Here are two of my successful cuttings - they flowered this spring and have already pushed 5-6 internodes (these were taken as cuttings in May, as you would for Acer Palmatum). I wonder if i just got lucky, and maybe i should have removed the flowers?

 

[River's Edge]

@River's Edge thank you!

Sorry I should have been clearer. Your procedure and Komaki's (in Japan, i presume) seem to be the same, except with regards to the timing of the cutting: November vs. February ( AND I SUSPECT THE TIMING WAS DUE TO WAITING FOR COLDER WEATHER IN JAPAN, WHEREAS I USED THE FRIDGE)

Maybe I will try both this year! (and otherwise keep everything constant) ( CUTTINGS OUTDOORS IN OUR WINTER MUCH COLDER THAN THE FRIDGE OR JAPAN UNLESS YOU LIVE IN A SIMILAR ZONE )



Can I please ask if you allowed your successful cuttings to flower, or did you remove the flower buds or flowers before/as they opened? ( I REMOVED THE FLOWER BUDS SIMPLY WITH THE THOUGHT IT MIGHT SAVE SOME STORED RESERVES IN THE CUTTING)

Here are two of my successful cuttings - they flowered this spring and have already pushed 5-6 internodes (these were taken as cuttings in May, as you would for Acer Palmatum). I wonder if i just got lucky, and maybe i should have removed the flowers? ( GREAT TO HAVE AN OPTIONAL METHOD )

THE LENGTH OF THE CUTTING WILL DETERMINE THE ENERGY RESERVES IN THE CUTTING, THE NUMBER OF INTERNODES AFFECT THE ROOTING RESPONSE DUE TO CELL DIFERRENTIATION IN THOSE SITES! THE BALANCE IS THE VASCULAR SYSTEM AND DISTANCE TO DRAW WATER AND NUTRIENTS WHEN NO ROOT SYSTEM EXISTS IN THE EARLY STAGES.

THEREFORE THE DETERMINATION TO HAVE 6 OR 7 INCH CUTTINGS WITH THREE SETS OF NODES, BURYING TWO SETS IN THE MEDIA TO MAKE ROOTING MORE LIKELY AND MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE VASCULAR SYSTEM TO TRANSPORT WATER AND NUTRIENTS WITHIN THE CUTTING.
HOPE ALL THAT MAKES SENSE!

I typed in notes within your text above.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

@River's Edge

Gold. Thank you Frank!

 

[エドガー]

You guys might find this interesting…

Perhaps the largest Ume air-layer attempt ever lol. (at least, filmed)

Also…this guy’s techniques are very interesting and new to me…. 24hr rooting-hormone cutting soaks…

I've read Jonas' enlightening blog post here:

Effect of hormone treatments on P. thunbergii cuttings for the production of surface roots on trees cultivated for bonsai - Bonsai Tonight

Pinus thunbergii is a popular species of conifer cultivated as bonsai. In an effort to produce superior surface roots on P. thunbergii, bonsai enthusiasts

bonsaitonight.com

I've also seen this Japanese guy's videos:

He soaks his cuttings for a whopping 24 hours (some vids, up to 48 hours iirc), with 0.40% IBA(iirc) in a 40x water dilution.
In some videos, he even shows the bottle's instructions (Japanese rooting-hormone brands) and the actual bottle indeed says 6-24 hour soak recommended.

What's your guy's take on this very long 24hr soak?

Iirc, all the American brand rooting-hormone (IBA or other) instructions say only 5min. soak at most... but this guy and also the Japanese brand instructions say much much longer soak times.


It seems to work very well, judging by all his videos with super thick cuttings (not just the more commonly done matchstick thick cuttings).

Maybe that’s why Japanese are so much better at propagation and cuttings… their bottle instructions are much different and/or better than the west/American brands.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

You guys might find this interesting…

Perhaps the largest Ume air-layer attempt ever lol. (at least, filmed)

Also…this guy’s techniques are very interesting and new to me…. 24hr rooting-hormone cutting soaks…

I've read Jonas' enlightening blog post here:

Effect of hormone treatments on P. thunbergii cuttings for the production of surface roots on trees cultivated for bonsai - Bonsai Tonight

Pinus thunbergii is a popular species of conifer cultivated as bonsai. In an effort to produce superior surface roots on P. thunbergii, bonsai enthusiasts

bonsaitonight.com

I've also seen this Japanese guy's videos:

He soaks his cuttings for a whopping 24 hours (some vids, up to 48 hours iirc), with 0.40% IBA(iirc) in a 40x water dilution.
In some videos, he even shows the bottle's instructions (Japanese rooting-hormone brands) and the actual bottle indeed says 6-24 hour soak recommended.

What's your guy's take on this very long 24hr soak?

Iirc, all the American brand rooting-hormone (IBA or other) instructions say only 5min. soak at most... but this guy and also the Japanese brand instructions say much much longer soak times.


It seems to work very well, judging by all his videos with super thick cuttings (not just the more commonly done matchstick thick cuttings).

Maybe that’s why Japanese are so much better at propagation and cuttings… their bottle instructions are much different and/or better than the west/American brands.

It's a known method. I think it's called a 'shock' approach.

The idea in the western world is that auxins are all drawn from the water in a matter of hours. I found that most literature agrees, but in practice I found opposing results.

Real hard to root species sometimes benefit from those auxin shock approaches.

Over here we also don't apply hormones through foliar sprays, but I'm a big fan. I use high strength drenches or foliar applications to jumpstart ailing trees, usually with good results.

But the hard part is getting pure hormones and knowing how to dissolve them in water. Every time I'm expecting a fresh bag of high purity white powder from China, I expect the cops to show up with it. They never did, which is weird because I import nearly half a kilo of various chemical powders from Asia every year.

 

[penumbra]

Thank you to everyone who graciously contributed to this thread. Now I just need to locate some Prunus mume that are affordable. I would really love to grow out 2 or 3 dozen.

 

[leatherback]

COOOL thread.
Was looking for info on layering prunus mume and found this thread. Now I have another winter project!
Any concensus on the approach?

I admit to putting cutting in hormone-soaked water overnight.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Any concensus on the approach?

i just measured the branches of my parent plants this week, and i’ll be using this method on about 400 cuttings - a decent sample size!

However, i got 77 out of 100 this summer, with cuttings taken during the growing season, and they’ve all pushed 6-7 internodes and have put on lots of root growth

My plan is to use both methods on the same parent plants for a few years, to see what works best

Unfortunately, i’m working with only 4 cultivars. It has been very difficult to convince others to share their cultivars so that i can study whether different cultivars react differently to each of the two propagation methods.

 

[Ohmy222]

Inspired to try a bunch of hardwood cuttings across many species to see how it goes. I do quite a bit of dormant pruning so it would be a good experiment. I have rooted softwood cuttings of mume before but they are somewhat difficult. I can get ~50% or so to root but they seems to die off before the year is out. More frustrating since their is false hope. Oddly enough, I find the Matsubara Red variety the easiest of the ones I have (standard, Kobai, and Shiro Kagu). May try Hawthorne and Beech hardwood cuttings too since they are very hard to root.

 

[leatherback]

I can get ~50% or so to root but they seems to die off before the year is out.

Yeah, I tried a bunch of cuttings and was happy in August when I saw roots creeping out of the pots.
Checked today and only 1 is left alive, 2 who were pushing died off after all.

 

[leatherback]

However, i got 77 out of 100 this summer, with cuttings taken during the growing season, and they’ve all pushed 6-7 internodes and have put on lots of root growth

This looks really promising. What is your success recipe?

 

[Canada Bonsai]

This looks really promising. What is your success recipe?

It’s a process that has worked for me 2 for 2, and although the success has been substantial i would prefer to wait another year before describing what i do in detail, just to rule out a few variables i’m still playing with

The trick comes from an individual from Japan, so i want to check-in before sharing too

 

[leatherback]

It’s a process that has worked for me 2 for 2, and although the success has been substantial i would prefer to wait another year before describing what i do in detail, just to rule out a few variables i’m still playing with

The trick comes from an individual from Japan, so i want to check-in before sharing too

If you want to try this in another part of the world.. Drop me a pm

 

[River's Edge]

Just an update to provide a visual of a cutting created as I indicated! This is a "Kobai" cutting struck last winter and propagated indoors until spring, now with one years growth. This plant has three extensions. Leaves are just beginning to fade in preparation for winter. I did not count the internodes but the growth is substantial. The longest extension is 30 inches or 75 cm. One of the tricks with Ume is the transfer from rooting media to pot. A substantial number of losses can be attributed to transplanting the cutting too soon and damaging the roots. If space allows the cuttings could be struck in individual pots large enough to accommodate the first years growth without the necessity of transfer! You can note that I have used a larger pot and will not sitar the roots for another season.

 

[エドガー]

It’s a process that has worked for me 2 for 2, and although the success has been substantial i would prefer to wait another year before describing what i do in detail, just to rule out a few variables i’m still playing with

The trick comes from an individual from Japan, so i want to check-in before sharing too

If you want to try this in another part of the world.. Drop me a pm

Drop me a PM of the method too please, if you can.

I've totally given up on ume cuttings (quickest to rot/fail for me)... close to giving up on acer p too (I've tried 6 cultivars... only ones that have a smidgen of hope is kiyohime and katsura... but even they're still barely making it). Trying ume and JM cuttings make me sad, haha.

But, at least, the super easy pomegranates, satsuki, seiju elm, pyracantha, cotoneaster, nandina cuttings make me happy again and give me confidence again, lol.

 

[エドガー]

Will Frank's method work for JM cuttings too? (since JM cuttings can also be difficult to do... at least for me)

 

[Canada Bonsai]

edit: nevermind