White pine cuttings

[shibui]

There are some who say it cannot be done

These are cuttings taken from a couple of my Japanese White Pine seedlings.

jwp cuttings Nov 2017 1.JPG

The candles have lengthened and started to open so that is a good sign.

An even better sign is the roots starting to show through the drainage holes

jwp cuttings Nov 2017 2.JPG

Judging by the top growth I'd guess that at least 2 have rooted but I'll leave them a few more weeks and hope that a couple more will produce roots

[Daluke]

When did you plant them?

What mix were they in??

[The Surgeon]

following on from Daluke's comments, what conditions are you keeping them in?

they look very happy

[Watto]

I'm just going to say - congratulations. That is a very good effort and I hope they all continue to prosper.

[shibui]

You can see in the first picture that there is no label
I think it was late winter. I have never managed to strike soft spring candles but have had reasonable results for pines with hardened 1yo growth which can be anywhere from late summer through to late winter. Late winter cuttings get the benefit of warmth as spring comes on.
Mix is my normal propagating mix - 50/50 coir peat/perlite (coarse grade) but I think any cutting mix should do the job.
Cuttings are under automatic misting to maintain humidity but I don't have the luxury of bottom heat for the cutting bed since a fox ate all the chooks last year.
Thanks Watto

[Action Jackson]

Great work shibui! Keen on the progress updates

[treeman]

There are some who say it cannot be done

These are cuttings taken from a couple of my Japanese White Pine seedlings.

jwp cuttings Nov 2017 1.JPG

The candles have lengthened and started to open so that is a good sign.

An even better sign is the roots starting to show through the drainage holes

jwp cuttings Nov 2017 2.JPG

Judging by the top growth I'd guess that at least 2 have rooted but I'll leave them a few more weeks and hope that a couple more will produce roots

Outstanding shibui!
Couple of things, How old were the seedling stock?
I would leave them as is until next spring. I often leave slow growing cuttings for about 18 months before separating them. (They often have just one root for a while). I find I get a stronger more resilient plant that way.
I put some cuttings in this late winter of an old grafted white pine. They are still alive but I don't hold too much hope.

[shibui]

The parent seedlings germinated December 2013 - see this thread viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16964&hilit=+white+pine
That makes them 5 years old now. The larger ones are about 40 cm tall. I planted one of them out in the paddock in hopes that it may one day produce further seed.

I'm always torn between potting up rooted cuttings early and letting them grow on for a while in the cutting mix. I torn some small roots off in the past but most survive. The problem with leaving them is nutrients. The cutting mix has next to no nutrition and I'm reluctant to fertilise while there may be no roots on some which inevitably leads to malnourished plants. On balance I seem to do much better when rooted cuttings are potted up earlier.

Very happy to hear experience and wisdom from other propagators

[shibui]

I could not wait any longer.....
Plus cutting bed misting is keeping thinks a little wetter than I'd like.
So I decided to pot up the pine cuttings:

JWP cuttings 1.JPG

JWP cuttings 2.JPG

These have gone into my standard 11cm squat pots with standard Shibui Bonsai potting mix.

The others have good callus at the base and have gone back onto the cutting bed so there's still hope for another couple of plants from this batch

[anthonyW]

Wow that must be rewarding, great work.

cheers Anthony

[tinto]

Shibui has written a great article on striking JBP cuttings from summer prunings, I tried it it works.

[shibui]

Another year and so another batch of white pine cuttings. Just needed to prove that last time was not just luck
Several good roots out the bottom of the cutting pot so I decided it was time to pot these up.
Here's the results:

P1200683.JPG

15 cuttings, 5 with strong roots, another 5 with smaller roots. I think that's a reasonable strike rate for something that is not possible. A couple of the unrooted ones showed signs of callus so I put them back into the propagating area for a second chance.

This time I put in a label for Daluke's benefit Cuttings taken 26-8-18.
Now we need to try some other times of year to see if timing has any influence on success rates.

[KIRKY]

That’s great! thanks for the update Neil. Will give this a try come August
Cheers
Kirky

[kcpoole]

Nice work Neil gettign the impossible done

even better to knwo that they are reproducible too

Ken

[Ian Hutchins]

Very nice Ken. On another subject I was speaking to Watto this week as I was looking for some Acadama for my soil mix. He suggested I reply to a post from you on ausbonsai to see if I can procure some from you! My email is ihutchin@tpg.com.au . I am in Goulburn but visit Sydney regularly for a family or bonsai visit. Thanks for getting back to me later this week.
Ian Hutchins