Cuttings

[Damian79]

Hi Everyone
When is the best time to plant cuttings?

[Scott Roxburgh]

Now.

I've had the best strike rate with this year's growth, rooting hormone (powder or liquid), in full shade, and with these mini green houses:
http://aijoubonsai.files.wordpress.com/ ... houses.jpg

Buy 2, and do 48 cuttings of the growing tips. You'll have some good strong roots out of that many and the rest you can give away.

I have used these for maple, magnolia, juniper, satsuki, Ilex, and beauty berry.

[Damian79]

Hi Scott
thanks mate ill give it a go.
Is there ang better time to plant or can you do this all year round?

[Scott Roxburgh]

This time of year has been best for me.

[Damian79]

Excellent ill get on to it right away.
Thanks for your help mate.

[Mojo Moyogi]

Hi Damian, as a loose general rule at this time of year broad-leaf evergreens and conifers do better than deciduous material, this is of course depending on the setup. Junipers, for instance could be ready to pot up in spring if you are using the mini propagators that Scott is talking about.

I need a bit more control, a lot more space and the ability to grow just about anything from cuttings, especially difficult to root species.

Propagation tunnel.jpg

My propagation tunnel is 4x1m and about 1m high inside, I can fit around 1500 cuttings in 50mm tubes at once, the extra height gives me the option of rooting oversize cuttings and air-layers inside if I wish.

inside.jpg

The tunnel is currently empty and has been running for about a month while I monitor it's minimum and maximum temps and humidity for it's first summer/autumn run in it's current location. I lost some rare cuttings in the tunnel in late spring due to a series of hot days and a water issue, I'd rather avoid that happening again.

Cheers,
Mojo

[Damian79]

sorry to hear that mate, it looks like a good set up.
Im by no means ready to try and grow that many cuttings at once. I just dont have the space for a set up like that at the moment. Im struggling for room full stop lol. I am making more and more room where I can (much to the disgust of the Mrs)
Ill give the mini houses a go for the time being and mybe think about something on a larger scale later on down the track. I am just starting out so ill see how I go. I would love to have some good stock to work with in a few years.

Damian

[Isitangus]

Scott and mojo can I ask what soil mix/medium you find works best for you? I was going to pick up a bag of perlite and bag of vermiculite and try a 50/50 mix but keen to hear what works best.

[Mojo Moyogi]

sorry to hear that mate, it looks like a good set up.
Im by no means ready to try and grow that many cuttings at once. I just dont have the space for a set up like that at the moment. Im struggling for room full stop lol. I am making more and more room where I can (much to the disgust of the Mrs)
Ill give the mini houses a go for the time being and mybe think about something on a larger scale later on down the track. I am just starting out so ill see how I go. I would love to have some good stock to work with in a few years.

Damian

No mate, not suggesting you go as silly as me (yet) Just showing you my setup which is at the other end of the scale and is semi commercial, about the 4th generation over a 12 year period. If you do want to go a little sillier in the future, just ask and I'll help if I can

Scott and mojo can I ask what soil mix/medium you find works best for you? I was going to pick up a bag of perlite and bag of vermiculite and try a 50/50 mix but keen to hear what works best.

In both basic and more automated enclosures, I have found that Perlite is fine on it's own, but I have had the best results with 0.5-2mm Diatomite, it seemed to produce much finer roots. I tried propagating sand along time ago and had mixed results.

Cheers,
Mojo