AusBonsai

Hi all,
Just wondering what kinds of methods/techniques do you guys use to create good nebari?
I just read an article somewhere about using a tourniquet style method above the existing root mass and waiting a couple of years for a new nebari to form, anybody used this method successfully?
My plants are still in the development stage and have very little to no nebari so I want to know how I can go about getting some happening soon-ish!
Cheers

I have tried the tourniquet method with cd's a couple of years ago and got decent results, I would recommend something stronger than cd's though. I have heard washers work great for saplings. I am trying wire this season. Both these methods seem easy enough but I now see that a ground layer may be the best and quickest way to get results if you are only doing a tree or two as it takes longer to set up.

i just recently put a ground layer on a ficus retusa, you know the ones you get from bunnings that are mallsai, pretty much like bretts surfing turkey but no where near as characteristic of that, i had to do something with it other then keep the two legs it had on it. so i used a ring bark method, put lots of rootex hormone gel on it, put a plastic container with the bottom cut out over it and filled with soil mix, this was one week ago today, i was curious just before i jumped on here when i was pottering around my bonsai area, had a bit of a dig and the whole area that i made the ring bark is covered in thick white new roots it has worked extremely well for me with ficus.

cheers jamie

Hi Mate

here is a method that i use often, Take a peice of 8 mm marine ply 30cm by 30cm drill a 6mm hole in the middle place your seedling through the hole & plant the whole thing in the ground ply should be at least 4cm below the soil level then let grow.

Here are a very drawings

Hope this helps

Cheers
Chris

Hi Skippy
I have been thinking about using that method on some fig cuttings to get good taper .What species have you tried it on ,I have seen this used in one of the earlier Bonsai Today magazines to create a sinewous raft I am hoping to do the the same on some celtis ( does being decidous matter ? ) Thanks

The quicker the tree grows the quicker it gives results.There is another method for getting taper on Cuttings of all descriptions.

Cut the cuttings across the bottom so you have a cross. Wedge that apart with match sticks or such obviously the wider apart the more taper. Paint the area with hormones plant in your usual mix you have a wider area for roots to develop as well.
It is absolutly bloody marvelous for Ficus varietys.

Cheers Pup

Thanks for the responses everyone, so my Figs should be right with those methods but what about Banksia or Melaleuca spp.?
Has anybody had success with either of these techs with other natives?
Cheers all

bonscythe wrote:Thanks for the responses everyone, so my Figs should be right with those methods but what about Banksia or Melaleuca spp.?
Has anybody had success with either of these techs with other natives?
Cheers all

As most of my Natives are collected I have not tried with cuttings as the ones I take usually have the flair I need. I have air layered a Melaleuca Linophylla sbpp with good results. The reason for doing it was a reverse taper at the lower part of the trunk.

Cheers Pup

Hi Pup,
The plants I am going to try this on arn't cuttings but are more like nursery stock with existing root masses. The existing mass (aka - mess ) has been in pots for who knows how long and I want to start again so to speak and get some basal flare with radiating roots.
At the moment I am just happy to have my cuttings survive!
I have a Elaeocarpus reticulatis (Blueberry Ash) which has reverse taper and will need a shove in the right direction, I might try the torniquet method on it.

Have you ever had to begin a new nebari and remove an existing root ball on a pot bound or yamadori/collected Melaleuca Pup?
Thanks heaps for the help

Hi guys

It works well with Tridents because of the speed at which they grow as Pup said. Pups method of cross cutting the base of a cutting also works very well.
I also use a plastic cone made from ice ceam container lids, as below

Hi Bonscythe

Here is a hybrid of what Chris suggested....this fig was planted above a tile. Like Pup suggested, the faster they grow , the quicker you get results...... Jamie,
I noticed your trial in another thread. To give you some hope have a look at the internal hollow of the above tree.....
Keep going mate, you live in a more appropriate climate .........even if you guys get lucky with state of origin EVERY year

Regards
Steve

thats nice roots steve!

bonscythe wrote:Hi Pup,
The plants I am going to try this on arn't cuttings but are more like nursery stock with existing root masses. The existing mass (aka - mess ) has been in pots for who knows how long and I want to start again so to speak and get some basal flare with radiating roots.
At the moment I am just happy to have my cuttings survive!
I have a Elaeocarpus reticulatis (Blueberry Ash) which has reverse taper and will need a shove in the right direction, I might try the torniquet method on it.

Have you ever had to begin a new nebari and remove an existing root ball on a pot bound or yamadori/collected Melaleuca Pup?
Thanks heaps for the help

The Melaleuca linophylla has had it done. It was 7mm at the point of reverse it was 4mm. So I have created a very good nebari will take a pic tomorrow. As I said before it is dark out there and I am frit of the dark.
Cheers Pup

here is a ground layer i put on a ficus retusa about ten days ago. this tree was one of those cheap figs you see all the time that they flog at bunnings.
it originally looked like the bottom half of a bloke standing taking a whizz. didnt work for me.. so i decided to ground layer, i ringbarked at the point where the two legs split apart and put a whole heap of rooting hormone gel on, 10 days later this is the result.. not bad eh
cheers

jamie

Thats not the poor guys doodle laying in the soil is it