howdy y'all
this is a little project i have been working on for a year now.basically i rooted 2 cuttings of ficus natalensis (strangler fig) on a crevised rock. it was originaly planted in a large pot hoping for roots to grow over the rock. after some waiting and vigorous growth i pulled it out of its pot to find out it was growing soly out of the rock no exposed roots :S . i decided to put it in a tray of water and made a kinda moss bridge to give the roots a path to grow and bingo after a week they were on thier way anyway here's the pics





i then defoliated the 2 trunks i plan to keep




i left the sacrafice branches leaved to retain more energy in the trees hoping for increase backbudding



the leaves on the tips are 1 day old so i left them and put on a little wire

opps i forgot to mention...once the sacrifice branches are removed they will be rooted and back into the planting. then just one more branch from the mother tree and i will have my gohan yose style (5 tree planting)

Hi,

Is going nicely!

If you leave the leaves on the sacrifice branches, they benefit most from defoliation. Back-budding will be stronger if you defoliate the sacrifice branch too. However, now you will get a growth spurt on the sacrifice branches (Which would be good: Trunk thickening!) and the new leaves & growth on the main branches will be a little weaker (Which is good: Short internodes).

Where are you located? Maybe I should snap me one of your cuttings one of these days. I seem to remember you are in the dutch-spoken part of Europe?

ManoftheTrees,
Nice job getting your roots going in the right direction! Literally & figuratively!

I've got 2 sacrifice branches on my willow leave fig; so Leatherbacks comment was helpful to me as well.
Hopefully, in time, you'll get some vigorous growth!! I look forward to seeing how this turns out overtime!!

Where are you located? Maybe I should snap me one of your cuttings one of these days. I seem to remember you are in the dutch-spoken part of Europe?

ha jelle not even close unless you remove the antlantic ocean
im in western new york,usa
you hit the nail on the head thats exactly what im going for.once the leaves on the tips mature a little more i will cut them also terminating the tip and pushing growth back. this is why i love ficus the cuttings from these will have cuttings of there own once established its a never ending supply

Yeah, you forgot your recent history...



churchillelementary.edublogs.org/files/2...anhattan-300x294.jpg

So, in your opinion, if the tree is healthy, prune shortly after buds break into leaf?
& again mid-summer?
a novice question but, that's me! For now. . . .
How do do YOU root your cuttings? & how long are the cuttings generally?
I do know keeping them moist, & humidity is important. What mix of mediums do you put your cuttings in?

My serissa clippings dried out & died

floraAdore wrote: So, in your opinion, if the tree is healthy, prune shortly after buds break into leaf?
& again mid-summer?
a novice question but, that's me! For now. . . .
How do do YOU root your cuttings? & how long are the cuttings generally?
I do know keeping them moist, & humidity is important. What mix of mediums do you put your cuttings in?

My serissa clippings dried out & died

Don't worry. I have probably lost around 10 cuttings or so this year. They are very fragile.

I, too, would like to see a seasoned vet's guide to cutting propagation.

when it come to ficus i just use my regular bonsai soil,some rooting hormone and keep 'em wet for a few weeks then let them dry out before watering again. i mist the cuttings daily and water from a tray underneath,size isnt a factor.
i do defoliation when i see new buds forming at the bases of some leaves this is a sure sign the tree is ready to push alot of new buds
as for anything else (other than succulents) i realy do not have any expierance.i have juniper cutting expieraments going right now but i have no known results yet its only been a week

Keep us updated on your experiment!! All my trees are sub/tropical but I'm dying to start some others, some native species. There were a lot of crab apples in the neighborhood I grew up in, so they hold nostalgia for me. I'd love to start a crab from a cutting .