Growing Bonsai from Cuttings

For most gardeners taking cuttings is one of the most satisfying activities. Growing a plant from a cutting has the added bonus of getting something for free. Some plants are easier to strike from cuttings than others, while certain varieties do not strike however hard you try. One learns by experimentation. Some cuttings are taken in the early part of the growing season and others in late summer or early autumn. It is therefore important to know which variety lends itself to a particular kind of treatment. Building on the knowledge of others can save a lot of time and effort.

Creating a bonsai from a cutting has many advantages. Apart from the fact that it is free, you also have the satisfaction of seeing your bonsai grow from scratch. Many famous and important bonsai masterpieces in Japan have been developed in this way and there is of course no reason why you should not be able to make a masterpiece bonsai yourself by this method. As with growing from seed, growing bonsai from cuttings need not necessarily be a long process. Very nice looking bonsai can be produced in as little as three or four years.

Certain species of plant propagate more easily than others from cuttings. Forsythia and viburnum are two good examples. A branch or twig pushed into the ground will root in a matter of weeks, but there are certain processes which help to provide ideal conditions for the cutting to root. First, to ensure that the leaves do not lose too much moisture the cutting should be kept in a closed environment such as a clear plastic bag or a propagating frame. Of course professional bonsai growers go to great lengths to provide these ideal conditions. They use polythene tunnels and propagating benches with sophisticated automatic misting equipment. For most amateurs this is not within reach, nor really necessary. All that is needed is a plastic seed tray or flowerpot, some peat and sharp sand and a clear plastic bag. A heated propagator with soil warming cables to provide 'bottom heat' can be a great help as this can speed up the rooting process, but you can still achieve a fairly high success rate without such equipment. Not all plants like bottom heat. In fact conifer cuttings are best propagated without since the heat can dry up the cuttings too rapidly.

There are two types of cutting -softwood and hardwood. A softwood cutting is taken in early or mid-summer using shoots which have been produced earlier in the spring. The ideal time to take such a cutting is when the stem is just beginning to turn woody. A hardwood cutting on the other hand is taken in late summer or early autumn, when the shoot has actually hardened and ripened.

Softwood cuttings may be taken with or without a 'heel'. A heel cutting is one that has been torn from the stem of the plant and has a bit of the bark of the stem still attached to it. A 'nodal' cutting is one that has simply been cut off just below a leaf joint. You can use either a pair of sharp scissors or a scalpel blade for this purpose.

Most deciduous trees and shrubs, such as the Japanese maple, trident maple, pomegranate, elm, cotoneaster and willow, root easily from softwood cuttings. However not all varieties of plant can be propagated from cuttings and it is only by trial and error that you will get to know which varieties can be propagated by this method.

The ideal softwood cutting is one which is about three to four inches (7-10 cm) long and with no more than two pairs of leaves. The soft growing tip where the leaves have not yet formed should be pinched out as it often wilts and dies anyway. Pinching out the growing tip also encourages a bushy plant to develop when the cutting produces roots. Softwood cuttings may be taken with or without a heel. When the cuttings have taken they will need plenty of light to stimulate the production of new leaves and roots, but they should be shaded from direct sunlight as this can cause the leaves to wilt and scorch. When a cutting has 'struck', new shoots will be seen to grow from the leaf joints. A gentle tug at the cutting will soon tell you if the bonsai roots have formed. If the cutting comes away easily then the chances are that there are no roots. If the cutting holds the soil firmly then roots will have formed.

The ideal medium for rooting cuttings is either pure sphagnum moss peat or an equal mixture of moss peat and sharp sand. Softwood cuttings are best taken in a deep seed tray or five-inch (12.5 cm) flowerpot. Hardwood cuttings can also be struck in deep pots but are better struck in the open ground.

Once the cutting has rooted, a "new bonsai" can be taken out, potted up into individual three-inch (7.5 cm) flowerpots and grown on. Bonsai should be grown vigorously for a full year before any training or wiring is contemplated. The training is no different from that which you would give to a plant from a nursery or garden centre -after all most nursery plants have been raised in the same way. The only difference is that you have grown bonsai yourself.