AusBonsai

G'day,
I have been given a beautiful Liquidambar plant in a 4' pot. It looks a very healthy plant. Would I be able to use this plant for Bonsai? The plant is quite tall. Would I be able to use the cut off as a cutting? I have looked on the net and it indicated you propagate from seed
Cheers Perry.

G,day Perry they do make fine Bonsai but they need a bit of girth and age!! as do all Bonsai. In the 25+ years I have been doing or trying to do this Bonsai thing. I have never had any luck with taking cutting's from them, it seems to be very hard to get them to strike, at least I find that.
I have airlayered them with a lot of success using just clay as a rooting medium, as well as the usual methods.

Cheers Pup

Hi Perry, I have been growing a liquidambar group for many years, if I had my time again I would not grow them at all knowing what I know now. The foliage is very difficult to reduce and the growth is rather coarse, its hard to get fine twigs on them and the root growth is very strong. They are very easy to cultivate so a good tree to practice on but long term I think your efforts are better spent on more suitable species.
Craigw

hey perry,
as for cuttings id have to agree with pup, all the attempts ive made havent worked. and as a bonsai, they work best if theyre larger, cause yeah, the foliage and new growth is hard to work with, and i always end up looking at mine in winter (defoliated), thinking of what to do next in terms of improving its shape, but by the time spring and early summer role around, all plans go out the window, as the shoots are kinda unpredictable. buttttttttt, all my attempts at root cuttings have been mega successful, and once healthy enough, if planted into tiny bonsai pots using single leaves as foliage pads, they can make cool looking mame, or accent plants.
also, if its too tall, and provided its the right time of year, and its healthy, chop it on an angle at the height youd be happy with, (in proportion to its trunk girth) and youll be pleasantly surprised at the new shoots that can later become the beginning of a pretty liquidambar bonsai. anyway, they are good for fun practice and ive seen awesome bonsai specimens but mostly upright and broom styles. good luck dude, hope that gibberish helped.
Jesse D.

G'day Pup, Graigw, Jesse D,
Thank you for your information. I am thinking that I might give my Liquidambar present back and asked for a winning scratch & win ticket instead!
As a matter of interest Pup you mentioned LAYERING. I read about that in my book and it talked of sphagnum moss. What & where can I obtain that? You suggested layering with clay and the usual method. Please could you elaborate on that. What clay is there to use. My soil is so sandy in the dry it looks like the beach.

Sphagnum moss can be bought in just about any nursery Perry - and Bunnings stock it as well.

If you go to 'Search' at the top of this page and type in Aerial layering, you'll most likely find quite a bit of useful information on how to do it - or hopefully, someone will point you to the particular topics.

If you'd like to see one done, I'd be happy to do one the next time we catch up.

G'day Taffy,
That's a deal. You bring the moss I'll bring the cake.
Cheers Perry

i took one cuttings last winter. just one cause i didn't think it will take. but it's growing. not sure if it's stored energy or not. but time will tell.

what i realize from liquid amber is that there's a lot of root sucker. that might be the way to propagate them.

good tree as bigger bonsai. i feed them with dolomite and potash. chick poo once in a while. kinda reduce the growth of the foliage. but the twigs are fairly big.
havent defoliate yet so i can say how well the foliage can reduce by size by doing so or how close the new internode can grow.

Perry the Pom wrote:G'day Taffy,
That's a deal. You bring the moss I'll bring the cake.
Cheers Perry

Bargain!! I sure will Perry, and when the layer takes you can have it. It'll most likely be a fig - easiest to do and one of the quickest to take.

Perry, here's a link to a topic by Mackray about air-layering a Chinese Elm. It shows you how to do it - and in good detail as well:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6154

Can be good for Bonsai, but a has been said, used for larger trees only as the foliage does not reduce.

they grow from root cuttings/ suckers and I have grown a new one this year just that way

Ken

G'day All,
Many thanks for all the replies. I think I have gained some beneficial information on Liquidambar's
Cheers Perry

G'day Perry, TIME does give you smaller foliage, if you have the patience, give it a go.
James

This is why I persevere with my Liquidambars, in Perth and suburbs it is hard to get good colour in our maples, so iIl keep mine just for autumn.

I defoliate every year on Boxing day and throughout the years take of any leaf bigger than a 50 cent piece.

Love it Pup!...one of my all-time favourite trees that I've seen in person. That colour's outstanding...can't say I've ever seen a street tree Liquidamber that nicely coloured. Any reason?? I know where you live it get's alot cooler than here on the coast....maybe that's it?? or put it down to the cultivar. What do you reckon?

Cheers!
Anthony