AusBonsai

Around the suburb I live in Perth (an older workers' cottage area now being yuppyfied), there are a huge number of houses with wonderful colourful displays of large Bougs spilling over their fences. I love taking the dogs for a walk and just "being".

That being said, there are also a large number of Bougs on Council land ie verges, road reserves etc, and I was wondering if it is too late to consider doing some aerial layering (after consultation with Council of course!) of some of these trees?

I read somewhere that in some species it can take up to 8 months for roots to properly develop when aerial layering. How long, in general terms, would aerial layering take with Bougs? Remember to take into consideration that I am in Perth.

Thanks all
Michael

Hi Micheal
Have you tried cuttings ? If you do layers you have to keep the moisture up to them and unless they are outside your house it may not work. Bougys are like figs ( at least in Brissy) - just cut them and some rooting hormone and it's unusal for them to fail. I have taken cuttings up to 4" round and not had any dramas. I have found it is more successful if you leave some smaller leaves on - seems they draw food and the cutting has a better chance of striking.


Tony

Thanks Tony. Strangely enough, I hadn't even considered cuttings. I might give that a go first and see how I go.
Michae

To ensure a great result take the cutting immediately bvefore you want to put it in, so it doesn't dry out. Some people even coat the cut ends with vaseline to stop it. As I mentioned I can get big ones to grow, even without leaves - but you get a better result if there are some new leaves left. You have to be patient sometimes - with large cuttings that are bare they can take months. I almost pulled one out after 6 months until it strated shooting And don't water them too much, otherwise the cutting can rot.

Tony

I have done several boug cuttings so far with good result. My wierdes attempt was a cutting of a short and thick cylindrical section of a big boug of dimensions: 220mm diameter and 100mm height. It lives and flowers well and I kept it untill 3 months ago when I gave it to my friend.
For all my boug cuttings, I stand them in water for about 2 days before planting them. Recently after discussing with jamie about vegemites, I also added B1 and sometimes seasol in the water. One of my thick cutting still took roots after I accidentally left in in the water for a month. Again I guess that result varies from species to species of Bougs.
Cheers

bougs are one of the hardiest trees around. you will find they will strike very well from cuttings, standing them in a B1/seasol/superthrive solution will help i do this with all my cuttings now, generally for any where from 2 days to a couple of weeks.

DK has shown even a month is ok, although i wouldnt recommend it.

Hey Jamie where did you get some Superthrive from ? I have looked in a lot of nurseries and the big B and haven't found any.

ebay cheaper thaqn any nursery or the big B

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT


cheap as mate, 14.95 for 120ml, postage will be $8 flat rate. still with postage it is 3 times less than nurseries

i have found any way, nurseries up here are a rip off in my local area.