IT is with absolute sadness and discontent that I write this post today. My world has been shattered and I feel as though every further second spent without bonsai simply adds to that feeling that I have growing in the depths of my soul, a lack of wonder, excitement and creativity - nothing but boredom now fills those empty spaces where greatness once lived.
It is as though I have adopted a form of dormancy, and I have to sleep before I once again come alive.
Oh, what a dark and cruel world indeed this has become, where luster was once all that was. Try as I might, work will not fill this void and I am left but to gawk at the marvels others have been able to create - my patience wears thin and with that growing demand to trim, cut, prune, water, re-pot or whatever project, however small, I fear that I may do more damage than good.
There was once luster, but now no more.
On a serious note, bonsai lovers, anyone, this is a mayday call and it really is urgent. I am looking for some awesome creative ideas (and a little advice later on) all because all of my bonsai have received their treatments and are not due for any major or fun work in the coming few months, which also means I'll be returning to writing a lot more general bonsai-related content.
My hands literally feel as though they have been growing as a shoot from a tree and someone has cut them off and placed them in a pot with no rooting agent whatsoever.
You know how the saying goes, idle hands are the devil's playground - for me this means seed hunting, baby tree hunting, hunting for more trees and so on. But something I've not done before is growing from a branch - specifically, large sized shoots.
As far as I am aware, you are told that you should always use a rooting agent (hormone powder) in order to get the roots to sprout from the future tree. But here's the thing, although I've found a few places online where these hormone powders can be purchased, I want to know if there are ways to successfully grow roots from a rather large shoot - some two to three years old - without using hormone powders of any kind.
Now, a method I've read up on - but involved rooting agents - is that you can take your shoot and place it in a mixture of perlite, vermiculite and river sand, or sharp sand or whatever sand you want to use, as long as it is light and fine.
Then, depending on the actual size of the 'branch', you could use a large bag and place it over the branch and ensure that this is tucked into the sides of the pot. Continue to poke holes in the bag but not so many as to allow for 100% 'ventilation'. The purpose of the bag is to create a humid environment.
And then, wait - of course, ensuring that the rooting mixture remains moist over the course of time which would take however long before actual results are visible.
I have seen one case where this has worked and it was used on a Coral Tree of all things. Apparently, these trees respond very well to this method without the use of a rooting agent.
OK, post questions - some tips on homemade rooting agents, all 100% natural and I have to warn you, the first one might make you sick, especially if you're squeamish.
SPIT!
So, as disgusting as that may be to some people, spit is apparently the answer if you are trying to go all natural. According to 'Julius Caesar' on a forum topic posted on Grasscity Forums
He put the theory to the test and, with four cuttings without spit and another four using spit, the results were apparently remarkable. No spit yielded one successful cutting while four out of four was achieved using spit.
I'm still not sure how I feel about that but hell, if you want to give it a try feel free.
Up next, Apple Cider Vinegar:
Again, I was somewhat shocked since it's vinegar. But regardless, research has shown that Apple Cider Vinegar in fact has 30 trace elements which are beneficial for plant growth.
So, what you want to do is mix three teaspoons of the liquid into a gallon of water. Proceed to dip the cut-end of the branch into the liquid and proceed to press it into the ground. I'm definitely going to give this a try before recommending it 100% though.
Cinnamon:
Again, I was a little shocked. Who would have thought that cinnamon of all things could be used as a rooting agent. But yes, apparently it can.
All you really want to do here is get a nice piece of paper towel, get it slightly wet and cover it in cinnamon. Now, wrap it around the base of the cutting and stick it in the growing mix.
As I understand, cinnamon aids in root growth and also prevents various fungi from having a go at the tree branch.
Now, at the time of writing I was doing a lot of research regarding juniper diseases and infections etc, etc, etc....
Herewith my heart attack moment. My oldest Juniper Chinensis had the loveliest shade of blue to its foliage about a month ago. It looked so happy and content that I though it was doing really, really well. I even had to start pinching new growth more and more often.
Then, all of a sudden, it started losing it's lovely shade of blue. Junipers are notoriously difficult to maintain and keep alive in my part of the world for some reason so initially, I had thought that bad luck had struck and its time had arrived to be collected by nature's version of Death, the Reaper.
Needless to say, I still continued reading up and lo and behold, my concerns were realised when I recalled a large quantity of ants starting to visit around my bonsai.
With the rather high temperatures we've been having lately, I've had to water my tree more often to keep them happy.
Ants love water, and ants in a pot also mean aphids. Now, while ants really aren't an immediate problem and can be solved quite easily with some organic pesticide, aphids can be a bit more tricky if left unchecked and undiscovered.
This is what my tree had looked like in its original pot and upon turning over the pot to examine the bottom near and the drainage holes, ants and aphids were all that I could see, fortunately, the larvae had not yet hatched.
Ants love aphids purely because ants rely on aphids for a sugary excretion. Ants also protect aphids from other insects which would kill them.
(Pictured Above: Aphids. Image Source: elslandscapeaz.com)
Needless to say, I was not having any of it and was definitely not in a use organic pesticide kind of mood.
Instead, I slowly got work removing the tree from the pot after I had prepared a growing mixture and gotten a clean pot which I washed and prepped in order to avoid getting ants and aphids for the coming few months.
An easy way to keep aphids away is to use chives. I've opted to keep some chives near my bonsai and also included some finely crushed chives in the growing mix. Aside of this, I've coated the bottom layer of the pot in neem oil.
After pruning the roots slightly (and also rinsing them clean), just so that the tree could fit neatly into it's new home, I continued to keep the roots moist and then moved the tree into the new pot.
I am slightly happy that I got some ants and aphids though, as the new pot suits the tree much better.
Happy Steeming and thanks for reading. PS. I've created an Instagram account purely for bonsai related content as well. Feel free to check it out: @bonsaiallday
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I know how you feel. I don't have many trees, and being Fall here there is not much to do with them...
Thanks
This is a great post, because it gets people talking and learning about how to grow a tree from scratch.
What type of tree are you attempting to root? Are you doing the air layering technique, or removing a cutting to root?
Trees that can be rooted from cuttings will often make roots easily if you put them in a vase with water, and keep them out of sunlight. Not a tree, but with ginger rhizomes, I often just rinse them ever week in clean water, and keep them in a plastic bag until they form buds. I believe darkness, clean water, humidity, and oxygen are all essential for healthy new roots. Rot and disease are main killers.
Honey is another odd one I have heard of. It's sticky and antibacterial, so that helps protect the cut end from disease and drying out.
Another favorite natural rooting hormone is willow. You can use willow cuttings purchased from a florist or look for an old willow tree to pluck a few stems off. Cut the stems up and let them sit in water for a day or two. I believe the theory is that because willow trees create tons of long feeder roots when sitting in water, it must have a chemical that can help other trees to have the same rooting ability to the water. Don't use dead stems, obviously. Green healthy ones.
I grow willow bonsai, and the pruned willow stems I usually save and add them to the water I use on my trees. Maybe it gives the roots a natural boost.
Too bad we don't have enough people talking but yes, the struggle of idle hands.
Truth be told, I have no idea what kind of tree it is that I want to take a cutting from. It is a rather large branch right in the lower fork of the tree. The girth of the branch is about 30cm and belongs to a tree I've never seen before - waiting for a tree identification group to get back to me which is amazing, they also seem to have no idea.
I assume it is a type of fig and it should easily be around 500 to 600 years old, the tree is huge. I'll be using a hardwood hormone powder to get it going - should be removing the branch from the tree this coming weekend.
I'll be sticking to a general soil mixture that is very light.
I wish I could get my hands on a willow tree here, they are considered an invasive so that pretty much ruins my day - I'd grow them from a cutting or from scratch but I have no idea where any are in my area. I think they are all over swamp areas and also riddled throughout parts of the Western Cape.