Dirk Hoorelbeke 6y JBP entry

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Ordered seeds from "Les Semences du Puy" just like in 2015.
Order Date: November 20, 2017


3 times 5g for me (+-840 seeds)
2 times 5g for Defra (+-560 seeds). We will meet at Noelanders in februari.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Bonsai is thinking ahead. Ordered rooting hormone for the cuttings. Last batch (2015) the result were not bad (0,4% 1-Naftylacetamide - KB Rootone). Next spring i will be repotting lots of them and i will determine how not-bad they are. Giving the "prove" that rooting hormone does make a difference, i want to try something different then powder. An article on the blog bonsai tonight sparked my intrest...
https://bonsaitonight.com/2015/07/1...rface-rootage-on-trees-cultivated-for-bonsai/
I looked for "Dip 'n grow" but most of rooting hormones are banned because they think we would grow cannabis... So i virtually went shopping in the Netherlands and found (0,33% indolyl butyl acid - Clonex gel).

Although i think growing conditions are more important than the rooting hormone i hope this will give me one extra root per cutting...

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Seeds are in the fridge...

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

New delivery. 63 new seeds. Wondering if i will notice a difference between the mikawa and the normal JBP.
Thanks to Bonsai Plaza for the nice packing.

 

[DirkvanDreven]

So Maarten still has some Mikawa seeds left!
I wonder if there is really a difference between seedlings from Mikawa seeds and I guess chinees seeds.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

It's so easy to be fooled, there is no way you can find the source of the seeds. Buy a big pack of "ordinary" seeds divide them in little sacs, write mikawa and you sell for a higher price. I bought some things before from Maarten and i guess he might be the most trust-worthy source for seeds. Within 10 years, we will know...

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Same price for the mikawa and 'regular' seeds atbondaiplaza

 

[DirkvanDreven]

Same price for the mikawa and 'regular' seeds atbondaiplaza

Correct!

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

63 mikawa
625 thunbergii
Hot tapwater.
Plan: Waiting 48 hours. Cold storage 1,5 months.
I have another 300 I'll start begin February. 1 month cold storage.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Float: mikawa 20 from 63 (32%) Thunbergii 20 from 625 (3%)


Damp paper towel. Folded, bagged, Sphagnum. Fridge 4°C (40°F)

Next: building grow box so i'm ready when they start to pop.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Time went by way to fast (building a new temporary home for my family). Managed to sow a moth later than planned (4/4/2018). Group one will be stratified 2,5 months and the other 2 months.
setup:
big frame (70cm (27 inch) * 320cm (126 inch)) set in the greenhouse. No bottom (time constraints and no need to move it in the near future).

Drainage layer of big akadama (yes i know it is unnecessary to use for the seedlings but had good results last time so...)

Heating cable (300w 24meters)

Heating cable in the box

covered with fine akadama. I wish i had akadama laying around for an extra inch.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Paper towel still damp

seeds ready to burst (the 2,5 months batch has a few showing the typical white tips, the others are not there yet)

left 2,5 months stratification (605 seeds + 20 floaters)
middle 2 months stratification (163 + 34 floaters)
right 2,5 months stratification mikawa (43 seeds + 20 floaters)

protected with "bird netting" mostly to avoid the cat to use it as cat litter

Temp set at 21°C (70°F)

 

[Anthony]

Could you, Dirk,
let us know how many seedling had a long single tap root, or
a short multi-root system when you prick them out.
Thanks in Advance
Anthony

Just in case the English is a problem -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/propagation_pricking1.shtml

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

I did experiment some years ago and in akadama they tend to produce a tap root but they devide quickly and stay compact. In compost the roots tend to run far with little small roots and in perlite they grew faster and with good rootage but less compact than akadama. I will take pictures of the seedlings I prick out. Thanks for the link.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

8 full days to pop the first in the longer stratification group.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Day 17 after sowing 366 (41%) pines are growing and new ones are popping every day but slowing down. Conclusion so far: 75 days stratification works a bit better than 60 days. The groups came from the same trader but from different bags so might be a bias there. The non floaters of the mikawa group perform way better than the others. Indication for me that the low percentage of germination is not caused by the setup or the conservation on my part but that the cheaper seeds are less viable. Will make a price estimate when all sprouted. The floaters perform worse except for the 60 days group. See graphic below.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

41 days after sowing almost all were ready to cut. Nice uniform growth. Skipped a few for wrong color or weakness.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

At this stage most had a single tap root and starting to form some laterals. So in came the ? and the rooting gel. Approximately 5 minutes of exposure.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Planted some in pots with the usual setup. Coarse pumice, mix pumice and akadama medium grain, sieved the dust that falls through the finest bonsai sieve with the kitchen sieve. Pre-wetting the mixture.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

It was dark when I finished. Will count later. Did this yesterday because we will get cooler weather for a few days. Temp in greenhouse changes from 8 Celcius to more than 50 Celcius when sunny. Ground temp set from 21 to 24 after sticking the cuttings. At night 22 degrees is achieved. Now hoping that some will grow good roots.