I have so many Shimpaku cuttings growing all over the place in my nursery beds I don't know what I'll do with all of them. Cuttings taken any time from healthy plants will yield a high % of strikes. I stuck some 'Fudu' cuttings a few weeks ago in full sun & they're still nice and (bluish) green. They'll root in the spring.

Split the bottom inch of the cutting in half or 4 ways with a branch splitter & wedge a pebble up into the splits to flare them out for more impressive nebari. You have to be sure you keep them in a soil that remains moist, but doesn't hold perched water.

They start like this one
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and 3 years later they look like these. It takes up to 6 months before they root - sometimes sooner though.
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Al

Al,

That is great! It looks like you are rooting cuttings outdoors. Can you describe the soil composition? Do you mist the cuttings?

Thanks,
Nate

The soil is a mix of pine bark, sphagnum peat, MI peat, Turface, and sand, plus I add a good portion of the old bonsai soil from repots, as long as there is no Sagina procumbens (pearlwort) or oxalis (like little clover) growing in the pots. Here's what the soil looks like:

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I also have lots of rafts started - many in the ground, but some were started in pots and have had some preliminary work done. If you'd like to see pictures, let me know & I'll snap a few.

I don't mist - I just use prunings & prepare the cuttings before I stick them in full sun. Then my only part in ensuring viability is to be sure the soil doesn't go dry - Mother Nature does the rest. Oh - I have to check now & then in the spring to be sure the frost hasn't heaved them out of the soil if they're not yet rooted.

Al

I would love to see pictures Al!

Here's a raft I started last spring. It spent the summer getting its feet under itself & I was able to do a little wiring on it to put some movement in the lower trunks & establish some sort of layout. You cant tell from the picture, but it's not 2-dimensional at all. It has plenty of depth. {{gwi:14312}}

Same raft after I pruned it again a few weeks ago:
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Here's another one I started last year - same story as the other one - just establishing some movement in the trunks. The rocks are just helping to position some of the thinnest trunks.
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Al

Al, thanks for the rooting soil info.