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First Elm Cutting struck.
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Author:  bluesky [ 08 Oct 2020, 18:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: First Elm Cutting struck.

wood walloper wrote:
Thing is , I can get just about anything i attempt, to strike.

With one exception, japanese maples!. :202thumbdown:

I have followed guides written by experts, been told many `tricks of the trade`, tried numerous methods, and not a single one has done anything other than lose its leaves and turn into a small stick.

:07hysterical:

It's true that JMs are tricky to root. Here is the method that has worked successfully for me:
Take a softwood cutting while dormant in January, (the tree... not you ;)
The cutting could be around 15-20cm long. It must have several latent buds along its length.
Put it in your cutting put in your favoroute rooting soil (I use a clear yoghurt pot so I can see the roots, and a mix of tiny grain akadama + peat).
Sit the cutting pot in a shallow plate of water. Don't worry, it won't get root rot; there are no roots on it yet!
Then put it in a plant propagator with high humidity for... and here is the biggy... for one whole year. Or a bit longer.
You can change the water it's sitting in a few times during the year but try not to disturb your pot at all (you know this becasue you've been successful with lots of other cuttings).
During spring in the propagator it will produce a few tiny leaves, no roots yet.
Just leave it there, always letting light to those tiny leaves. Slowly in early summer you might see a few roots.
Still leave it in there. It needs to use those roots to start producing bigger leaves.
The bigger leaves come in August or so.
And by now in October mine have produced several larger leaves which are generating the photosynthesized energy it needs to develop more roots. But I am leaving them still in the propagator until spring next year.

BTW I won't be doing this again! Much easier just to do an air later while it's still on the tree.

Author:  wood walloper [ 09 Oct 2020, 10:20 ]
Post subject:  Re: First Elm Cutting struck.

Firstly, Bluesky thankyou for the detailed and in depth walk-through. Very interesting.

But,after having read all that, and considering the time-scale involved, like you i will concentrate on air layering from now on, a much easier process and one that gives a 'mini tree' and cuts out the years of growing required on JM's, which are delicate , flakey trees at the best of times!.

Author:  bluesky [ 09 Oct 2020, 10:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: First Elm Cutting struck.

Exactly!
The experienced person learns from their mistakes.
The wise person learns from others' mistakes!
:201thumbup:

Author:  daryl [ 09 Oct 2020, 11:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: First Elm Cutting struck.

Great quote, BlueSky :smallthumb:

Author:  Rivulus123 [ 09 Oct 2020, 13:19 ]
Post subject:  Re: First Elm Cutting struck.

Well Maples always escaped me too no matter what Peter Chan suggests.
For now here is my lowly undignified Elm, which has put on quite a bit of growth over the last few weeks.
Still unsure how to approach the ugly base of the tangled branch cutting. I never really thought about it, I basically showed it to a pot of soil and I wasn't really expecting anything except another murder case. I'm sure thats for later but for the present it's doing very well thank you very much!

Follow the Leader

Image

Author:  wood walloper [ 10 Oct 2020, 13:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: First Elm Cutting struck.

Elms are, as i have posted in other threads, my real weak spot. Just about anything longer than than a couple of inches that i take off my elms, i pull the bottom leaves off and just stick in a pot, that's it.As a result i have dozens of them, which isn't a bad thing, allows lots of scope for mistakes, experimental bends and failed ideas!

Same story with my cotoneasters, again i am having to curtail my efforts as i am running out of pots!.

I have got around this by sticking a total of about a dozen of the two species in a patch of bare earth in the garden once they were big enough to survive the move.That was a couple of months ago and they are all well rooted and starting to grow nicely now as winter approaches.

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