Yes. Please give air-layering a try, especially on certain branches which you intend to cut.
But if your branching is causing undesirable "whorls" - swelling at the intersection between the main trunk and the start of the branch, please take action early.
The trick for me on the JBP air-layers is: CLONEX Purple Rooting Gel - why?
In January 2023, I attempted an air-layer on quite a thick branch, usually after 90 days, I should see some roots forming.
March, April went by, and nothing happened.
[Early May 2023 ] As I opened up the air-layer to check, the area of where I have cut out the cambian has started to callus. <---- This is perfectly normal, as most JBP airlayers do not take. In all honesty, I was even surprised that I could air-layer a blackpine (at all).
What I did was, scrap off and make another clean incision above the callus area, remove any cambian (green) to expose the white (non-green), apply a generous amount of CLONEX purple gel, cover up with moist sphagnum moss, and wrap it up.
Just 2 days ago, I noticed at the bottom right corner of the air-layer, and thick roots were forming.
This is the first time, I have rejuvenated an air-layer which has callus over time with no roots > to new rooting taking place.
My logic to this is either luck or most definitely the large amounts of Clonex that I have dumped on that new airlayer.
Luck, Clonex; Clonex Luck.
how was the climate from Jan-Mar? was it raining a lot?
less rain in April & May?
will do try
I noticed you are using slow-release Osmocote type fertilizer too. (see: blue dots in your lava soil)
The trend in Indonesia with the usual JBP seedlings for sale on Shopee and Tokopedia is that they are mostly grown in "sekam mentah".
I have heard that many JBP growers has success with Sekam Bakar. To me, sekam as a soil media is way too light, and I cannot grasp a hold on when to water next. Inorganic soil mixes seem to be better suited for my JBP growing.
I started somewhere in 2019 too - pre-covid.
The 1st mix I was experimenting with consists of : 1/4 bamboo humus, 1/2 black sand (pasir malang), 1/4 sekam mentah. Mostly organic. I would fertilize with Osmocote 17-11-10.
[this is the period where I killed the most JBPs , lots of damping off, bacteria, water regime / routine problems]
The 2nd mix was mostly advice by Bonsai Nutters here: 1/3 Akadama, 1/3 Pumice, 1/3 Lava rock - This mix has served me really well till now.
Especially in Colander baskets.
[this is period where I just kick back, stop stressing, and let the juveniles grow and grown, repot once in 3 years to a bigger colander, no disturbance to the roots, just adding more soil media, and allowing a bigger root space]
In between, as my water is really alkaline at 8.3 - 8.5, I started placing pine bark as top soil to ensure the soil media keeps a slightly lower pH environment as most plants require a pH 6 - 6.5 to thrive.
At the moment, I am just using 50/50 Akadama + Pumice.
Long candles have been shooting out since end of April till now. Elongation still on-going on some, on others: some new shoot formations.
no, it was 16-16-16 those blue cheap granules
just didn't dissolved, it also means I did a terrible job at watering
about the mix, for this particular tree I use 97% lava rock + 3% goat manure
for the one in collander I use mostly lava rock, a little bit pumice from fish tank filter, a little bit akadama, and a little bit of re-used soil, also a little bit of broken clay pot
basically a little bit of everything
lava rock =
pasir malang
pumice =
batu apung
akadama =
akadama
I do have some in
proper APL mix though
I think in our climate, any well drain mix will do. Just avoid soil/earth, stays too wet and compact.
It's tricky, during the dry season I wish I had more akadama in the mix
during the monsoon season I wish I had more lava rock in the mix
still looking for suitable mix, so far lava rock works for me
Are you planning to style your biggest JBP beast with nice thick trunk profile soon? Maybe repot in a proper suited bonsai pot?
What are your progression thoughts?
my plan for now is to save those interior shoots, and decide later based on how this tree respond. It's a long years ahead.
- 2023: prune back hard to old needles, and see what happens, will do that in following weeks/months before the monsoon starts
- 2024: do some root work, and plant it back in same pot
- 2025: move to big square collander? no bonsai pot yet
suggestions?
