Arakawa Japanese Maple

[MACH5]

I made two air-layers on an Arakawa maple in early May. About 8 weeks later one was ready to be separated as seen below. The reason for striking these layers is that I need them for root grafts to improve the nebari of the parent tree. This work will be done next Spring.








In the process, the new tree suffered minimal root disturbance and potted in a mix of sphagnum moss and akadama. Also it was cut back to reduce demand on the new root system while it establishes itself in the new pot.







Here is a detail of the branch with the air-layer removed. The remaining stub will be cut off.







Shown below is the second air-layer. Roots are visible but this one is not ready yet to be separated. Perhaps a couple more weeks.







Here is the Arakawa maple after removing one of the two air-layers. The second one is hardly visible at the top left of the canopy. If this tree looks familiar, it is because you may have seen it on another thread here on BNut posted by Raydomz a while ago. Subsequently I purchased this tree last year from him. The tree is doing extremely well, a testament of the great care he gave it. It is very much still in development/refinement phase. I look forward to try and keep bringing out the best out of it in the coming years.





Thank you!

 

[mc4mc44]

I was wondering why it looked so familiar. It's a beautiful tree, thanks for posting.

 

[FrankP999]

Really nice. Did you do anything special or out of the ordinary for the air layers? I have an arakawa I want to air layer.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Lots of potential...will be exciting to see it develop in your collection!
That pot is pretty cool...any idea who was the potter?

 

[MACH5]

Really nice. Did you do anything special or out of the ordinary for the air layers? I have an arakawa I want to air layer.

Thanks! The only thing different this time was that I used a gel type root hormone made by Dyna Gro . I am playing a bit with air-layers and see if it does make a difference as opposed to not using anything. It's tough to say at this point.

Lots of potential...will be exciting to see it develop in your collection!
That pot is pretty cool...any idea who was the potter?

Thanks Brian, and like you I do like my twin trunks! Yes the pot that Ray chose is nice. Helps give the image a light and fresh look. There is no signature whatsoever at the bottom of it so I imagine is a Chinese pot??

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Thanks Brian, and like you I do like my twin trunks! Yes the pot that Ray chose is nice. Helps give the image a light and fresh look. There is no signature whatsoever at the bottom of it so I imagine is a Chinese pot??

Too true! One of my two arakawa layers is a twin trunk, smaller, but similar movement to yours. Should come out of the ground with a great base in a few years.

 

[MACH5]

Ah very nice. Can't wait to see that one!! I am working on a couple myself in the ground that will be also smaller in size but these are standard green leaf variety.

 

[Dav4]

Thanks Brian, and like you I do like my twin trunks! Yes the pot that Ray chose is nice. Helps give the image a light and fresh look. There is no signature whatsoever at the bottom of it so I imagine is a Chinese pot??

I appear to have that same pot and mine was purchased as Chinese, fwiw.

PS I love your twin trunks, as well. I really need to get an Arakawa!

 

[akhater]

Not meaning to hijack the thread but I have a maple layer going on too since March and it is full of roots.

Can I cut it now or better to wait till spring and/or is it risky to wait till spring anyway ?

thanks

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Not meaning to hijack the thread but I have a maple layer going on too since March and it is full of roots.

Can I cut it now or better to wait till spring and/or is it risky to wait till spring anyway ?

thanks

Look back through the photos Mach5 posted...good examples of right time and too soon. Then look at your layer...which does it resemble?

 

[Dan W.]

Beautiful Arakawa! I remember begging my wife to let me bid on this one... I may have even bid once or twice. I'm glad you got it though; you do a great job with your maples!

 

[MACH5]

Beautiful Arakawa! I remember begging my wife to let me bid on this one... I may have even bid once or twice. I'm glad you got it though; you do a great job with your maples!

Thanks Dan! I must tell you that I was VERY surprised when I received the notification from EBay that I had won the auction! I believe it was somewhat heated up until the very end! I will tell you, my wife was not thrilled about it!!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I will tell you, my wife was not thrilled about it!!

Isn't that the universal sign that you got a good tree? ;-)
Been a while since I got a tree my wife wasn't thrilled about...pots? Different story!

 

[akhater]

Thanks Brian,

My question is rather if I wait till next spring anyway am I harming the layer or the longer the better?

I am not in a hurry removing the layer and wondering if it could have side effects to wait till spring in all cases

 

[MACH5]

Thanks Brian,

My question is rather if I wait till next spring anyway am I harming the layer or the longer the better?

I am not in a hurry removing the layer and wondering if it could have side effects to wait till spring in all cases

I'll let Brian answer this one and suggest to follow his advice. But... I will say that there is no harm, seeing where you are located, in letting it be until next Spring. You don't have the harsh winters that I have. The more roots the better!

The main reason why I separate air-layers as soon as I can, is that I do have nasty winters. I usually subject my maples to very cold weather and don't give them any protection in any but the coldest of temperatures. I do not want to have these air-layers still sitting on the tree with only a thin piece of plastic between the roots and the elements.

 

[cmeg1]

Cool pictures,my first attempts at layers are at 6 weeks and I don't see any roots yet,I hope I have success.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Thanks Brian,

My question is rather if I wait till next spring anyway am I harming the layer or the longer the better?

I am not in a hurry removing the layer and wondering if it could have side effects to wait till spring in all cases

If it has good roots, I'd separate and get it growing on its own as soon as feasible. I don't know if callus tissue would continue growing and reconnect if left on too long, but the sooner you can safely separate, the faster you can get on with developing the two individually.

Here, I wait until the summer heat breaks for the first time, late September-early October, then slip pot without disturbance into a 1-gal can for a year, then work the roots on the second year after separating.

 

[MACH5]

Second air-layer

Separated the second air-layer this morning. Looking at it I felt it was now ready.










Looking at it more closely I realized that the branch had also produced many roots about 2" above the actual layered area where my thumb is in the pic. For now I will keep all as is and next year when I do my root graft I may cut them off or actually use these instead. We'll see.








And here it is on the left joining now the other layer made a couple of weeks ago.

 

[JudyB]

Those roots are beautiful. Looks like it is very well on it's way.

And the parent tree is looking wonderful, I'm glad you wound up with it.

 

[akhater]

can't wait to see how it will look like in a few years!

I have a small arakawa planning to layer it off next spring. Great to know they layer well