AusBonsai

Wow, nicely explained! Brought back some of the genetics I learned....
In a way, the dog analogy is perfect as they all came from one dog - selective breeding has brought about the different breeds.... It's just a lot more difficult to take a dog cutting and grow it into an adult dog
Thank you.


Cheers
Elmar

I planted some JBP seeds this year, and to cover all my bases, I ordered seed from 3 different suppliers:

Supplier 1 sent seeds that were obviously not black pine. I have planted them anyway out of curiosity to see what they are.
Supplier 2 : Not one germinated.
Supplier 3:
It pays to cover all bases.

Now than my English oak saplings have burst, I am now going to look at growing moss...

Does anyone have some nice moss? Or should I just collect the stuff growing in my parents yard?

Does anyone have some nice moss? Or should I just collect the stuff growing in my parents yard?

Most bonsai people have a favorite moss collecting place and just pick up what they need when they need some. Look around asphalt or concrete on the south sides of older buildings, carparks, etc. If there is some good stuff in your yard just use it but there are lots of different mosses. The best are tight, short ones that don't grow too long. Silvery grey mosses like it a bit drier and look good on bonsai.
Collect mos with an old knife or paint scraper. Slice just below the surface and lift up slabs of moss. Moss does not have roots so just a thin slice of soil to keep the slab together.

Note that moss is not needed to grow seedlings. I only put moss on bonsai pots I want to show. It can help hold the potting mix in the pot but can also cause problems when watering.

Nice batch of JBP wrcmad. May be worth knowing who the dodgy suppliers were?

Thank you again yet again Neil

I have also just found the section of these forums dedicated to accent plants and moss... Should have looked without my man eyes before asking.

Shame

.

shibui wrote:

Nice batch of JBP wrcmad. May be worth knowing who the dodgy suppliers were?

Rather than name and shame, I'll tell you that the non-germinating lot was from an Australian seller.
The very healthy seeedlings were from a lot purchased on ebay from jclambd2929.
Cheers

I tried my hand at some seedlings this year... tried different soil mixes, different stratification, some of those mini-greenhouse thingies, big and small planter trays with the majority of the seeds Trident Maple (from 2 different suppliers) and some JBP seeds. I planted about 300 Trident seeds over a space of about 3 months and so far only one, yep one, has sprouted and is now well on it's way. None of the JBPs have raised their head. Oh, and I recorded every detail.

Did I learn any lessons? Yep.
* Standard potting mix in shallow trays dries out too fast and once that happens it doesn't retain water, even tho it looks wet.
* My watering regime was abysmal. Will do better next year.
* I still lack patience... probably started too early in the year.

Breath grasshopper, breath.

Sorry to hear you're having such a poor success rate this year, I had the same a couple of years ago from over stratification

Wayne R wrote: * Standard potting mix in shallow trays dries out too fast and once that happens it doesn't retain water, even tho it looks wet.

Learning this one myself this year too, must use a better seedling mix

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Yeah, it would seem us newbies don't have much luck with mini anything (greenhouses, planter trays, etc). I had about 9 acorns in one of those mini greenhouses as an experiment, they all failed. It just retained way too much moisture.

I can't remember who told me or where I read it, but I just made up a mix of 50/50 river sand and peat moss for 9 acorns in little 6 inch plastic pots. 6 have sprouted so far, the most recent one to pop was last week.

2 of my acorns were stolen by the cat and I am yet to retrieve them from under the TV unit.

A found a lot of nurseries up here in Hedland use that same mix (rivers and & peat moss). They focus on growing their own to revegitate the grounds they disturb....


Cheers
Elmar

I have separated the 41 Casuarina to individual growing spaces. A delicate hand, a chop stick, and a little soak in Seasol for the root whilst doing it. But a week later and they are cruising. Sorry can't post pictures, am away from home. The trees in question are from here; viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20679

The other "local" I have success with is the Burdekin Plum, have 4 seedlings up and running from a single seed pod. ( Pleiogynium timorense)
Cant tell if its a good subject yet as it seems no-one has done one, or it's been done in secret.
I have wired some shape into the two inches of trunk that I have and even have one growing with exposed roots, even at only three months of age. Again no pics sorry, maybe when I get home from the Cairns Bonsai Show on Sunday.

Watty