AusBonsai

Hi Guys newby from Brisbane. Love the site - finding it very informative. This is my first post so please be gentle with me I have a firethorn about 800mm high in a styro box. I have a few branches to cut off to start styling and wanted to know if anyone has had experience with layering or cuttings. I have managed to get very small cuttings to strike, but have no luck with larger sizes - anything above 5mm diameter.

thanks


Tony

Gday Tony

welcome to the forum you will find a wealth of information and frienly people to go with it

if you have been getting the smaller cuttings to strike this is good it means you should be able to get larger ones to strike aswell, have you been using a rooting hormone? the powder or gel? being a larger cutting you would need a hardwood hormone which you will find in the gel at your local nursery or the big "B".
this should help increase your strike rate on larger cuttings, i have seen some very large up to 45cm across strike although not pyracantha but none the less they were big.

airlayer is a pretty good way of getting larger trunk and branches to strike a new root system with a pretty good chance of success, one thing you must know is cuttings and air layers arent always a garuantee to striking roots, there will always be some sort of failure, unfortunately thats just life.
the best advice i can give is to practice with the smaller stuff first and when you get a good strike rate think about going for the bigger ones or work your way up, you can even try air layers on other trees around the garden first to get the technique down pat

now this pyracantha, did it come from northside bonsai? if so was it the one just on the inside of the stock yard gate? if so i know which one you got i thought about getting it myself a few times

good luck and let us know how you go


jamie

Hi Jamie nice to meet a local or at least a semi local I have had good luck with layering figs - only had about one failure but then it's not rocket science up here, is it ? I think the humidity is a real help. Also having good success with cuttings for figs and bougys. Yes using Richgro hardwood strike - tried Clonex purple gel but didn't find as great a success rate. Just wasn't sure if layering would work on the firethorn which I bought from Bonsai Place at Narangba. I use Len Weber's technique for air layering - ringbark, hormone, tissue and alfoil. Works a charm for figs anyway.

cool mate

thats the air layer method i use and although ii havent had a full 100% strike rate i have had a lot of success, and i am the same with the clonex purple i havent had as good results with it as a product called rootex which is a multi purpose hormone at full strength for hard wood and dilute for medium and soft wood, i have found this to work extremely well.

it sounds like you have the experience in air layering so i wouldnt be to concerned just because it is a different species, its pretty much all the same and its not like its a species that is hard to propagate so you should have some good success with cuttings and airlayers, its just a matter of keep trying the cuttings and whatever you think wont take via cutting, air layer it!

there are a few of us queenslanders on here, NathanM and DK are in bris, Shannon and Dayne are on the sunny coast, brian inglas is in bris, Rod, myself and bundy fisher are all up this way

jamie

Thanks Jamie. What about Swamp Cypress - do you know if it can be layered using the same technique ? I have one that I have done, and all it has done is callous at each end of the ringbark I also have a Banksia Integrifolia growing in the ground that I have tried with the same result I have scraped it back twice and re powdered it. Is it a case that these species are not suited to air layereing, or that it takes a lot longer than the figs ?

Tony

figs are freaks of nature mate, the way they readily root so quickly etc. is just amazing, thats why i love em, i have a retusa that i ground layered and had a whole new root sytem in 2 weeks and removed it in the third week.
i wouldnt use figs as a comparison some trees will take longer to strike for sure, swamp cypress i would take cuttings and get a bucket of water mix in some super thrive and stick them in, they should strike just by doing that.
as for the banksia i am not the best with natives so i couldnt say for sure, but i have had that problem and what i would do is increase the size of the ring bark to at least double the width of the trunk if not more, make sure it is super clean no white bits, no green bits, no pulpy bits, and then use the standard technique.

jamie

Welcome to the forum Tony, Mate you sound like you have the layering and cuttings under control. Something worth trying with figs and bougs is larger cuttings, they respond well. Here are some I did in late october, both trees have shot and the tops of the pots are covered in roots . This was growing in a dead tree on a mates property so I cut the tree down to get it , I then divided it into two trees. Go the queenslanders!!!!!

Rod.... i knew you were gonna have something hiding in that computer of yours that was massive!!!!!

im loving that one in the round pot, and the pot

jamie

Mate you never know what I have up my sleeve, the smaller tree has been shortened since it shot. I know the big one is under potted - that was the largest pot I had and I didn`t want it sitting in to much mix and becoming water logged. ROD

Rod wrote:Mate you never know what I have up my sleeve, the smaller tree has been shortened since it shot. I know the big one is under potted - that was the largest pot I had and I didn`t want it sitting in to much mix and becoming water logged. ROD

i may never know what you might have up your sleeve but i know there is gonna be something for sure

hope things are going well for ya


jamie

Bougy Fan wrote:Hi Guys newby from Brisbane. Love the site - finding it very informative. This is my first post so please be gentle with me I have a firethorn about 800mm high in a styro box. I have a few branches to cut off to start styling and wanted to know if anyone has had experience with layering or cuttings. I have managed to get very small cuttings to strike, but have no luck with larger sizes - anything above 5mm diameter.

thanks


Tony

Hey Tony,
I know its been a year since you first started this thread, but did you have any luck with air layering the firethorn?? I am considering doing the same but wasnt sure if it worked on firethorn, or when the best time to do it was since its an evergreen.

James