Page 168 - Tài liệu cây cảnh Bonsai4me Bonsai Basics

The main advantage of taking cuttings is that cuttings up to 1" thick

(dependant on species) can be rooted, speeding up the process of creating a plant
suitable for use as bonsai. The other advantage with cuttings is that material that
is routinely pruned from bonsai and thrown away, can be used to create new
plants.
There are a wide range of cuttings in general horticultural use that can be
used to propagate garden plants, from leaf-cuttings to root-cuttings; for bonsai
however it is stem cuttings that are normally used. There are 3 types of stem
cuttings commonly used, softwood cuttings, semi-ripe and hardwood cuttings.
Most Species Guides should state the best method and the correct timing for
taking cuttings from each species. This gives you an idea of how to achieve good
success rates when taking cuttings, however, if material becomes available at the
'wrong time', it can still be worth trying to use it rather than throwing it away.
There may be an increased failure rate but you may also gain a number of new
plants.
Softwood and Greenwood Cuttings

Softwood are the soft, pliable shoots from the current seasons' growth. More
often than not, they will be green-wooded. These are nearly always taken in
Spring to early Summer when the new leaves on the shoot have hardened off and
changed from their Spring colour.
Try to take these cuttings early in the morning if possible. Each cutting
should be 8-10cm (3-4") if at all possible, trim the cutting from the host plant
just below a leaf node. This is where there are likely to be adventitious buds that
will hopefully root in the future. Cuttings that can be taken just below the
junction of a side shoot are nearly always more successful as they have a high

concentration of natural growth hormones. Trim all leaves off the lower third of
the cutting and reduce leaves on the upper two-thirds to just 3-5 pairs at most.
Semi-ripe and ripewood cuttings
Semi-ripe cuttings are generally taken in mid-or late Summer; they consist of
soft-tipped shoots of current seasons' growth (as with softwood cuttings) but
have firm and woody growth at the base.
Ripewood cuttings consist of the same material as semi-ripe cuttings but
have ripened up further and are generally taken from early Autumn to early
Winter.
The cutting is taken just below a node for nodal cuttings or with a heel of
mature wood for heel cuttings.

Remove all side shoots and trim nodal cuttings to 8-10cm (3-4") long if
possible, trim heel cuttings to 5-7cm (2-3") long if possible. Remove leaves on