Bonsai from very mature cuttings?

My mate has just sold his house and has not left much time to air-layer any of his nice trees, so I'm wondering if anyone has had any positive experience with the rooting of very mature CUTTINGS, by whatever method? I'm talking 2 to 5 inch cuttings - whatever I can find. Or am I simply wasting my time and effort? Thing is, I need to whet my appetite, and winter ends for us in little over a month so I want to get cracking with some sort of "hopefully" well-thought-out plans to obtain and grow decent material!

Appreciate your input and advice.

Hello Stickman. I wouldn't attempt it with the trees over here but this may be different in S Africa. Have you any idea of the names of the trees you want to try this with? There are several posters from S. Africa and I'm sure they will be able to help.

Thanks Will. Offhand I only know two of the types of trees in his garden: Celtis Africana (white stinkwood) and "Johannesburg Gold" - not sure of the formal name.

I might just go ahead and try it with these two, just in case.

Brent

All you lose is time if they don't take. Be sure to use a strong rooting hormone.

That's a very good point Jim, I think I'll give it a try - got nothing to lose.
Strangely enough I've already got my hands on some "Seradix B No. 3" indole-3-butyric acid powder which I bought some time back but haven't yet used, so this is the perfect opportunity.

Celtis africana belongs to the elm family. "Johannesburg Gold" is Melaleuca bracteata, a member of the myrtle family, & a genus with an invasive weedy reputation. Both of these are probably good candidates for your experiment.
Iris

That's good to hear, thanks for the input Iris.
Brent

Hi Brent,
I have had luck with rooting thick-diameter (up to 15 cm) weeping willow and ficus (benjamima) cuttings. The willows will root sitting in a bucket of water. The ficus - use rooting hormone and put in granular soil and keep moist. I often learn by "try it out"; sometime plants don't listen to people Good luck!
Salut, Todd

... on top of that, it's the end of the winter where you live and I think it's a very good period for cuttings of a certain size.

As Iris said, it's part of the ulmacea family, and most species in this family are among the easiest ones to propagate from cuttings.

Strangely enough I've already got my hands on some "Seradix B No. 3"
indole-3-butyric acid powder which I bought some time back but haven't
yet used, so this is the perfect opportunity.

Unopened, I hope. The shelf life of some of these rooting hormones is fairly short after they've been opened.

I'll be sure to read the insert in that case, but I opened it a good 4 months ago now. It's quite inexpensive so may be in my best interests to play it safe here and cover all known bases as far as possible, and simply replace it. Thanks Jim.

Alain, thanks for the advice.

Todd that's fantastic to hear you've had some positive results - I'm certainly going to give this thing a bash!

Brent