Rooting Whole Japanese Maple Branches

[MalsRFun in TN]

Here's my first try. The larger maple cuttings are in the plastic bottles. The others are in pots. I should have removed most leaves, but didn't realize, so now I see a few dead and shriveling leaves. No holes in either box, but I only mist once a week, so there's just about 1/8" of water in the bottom when the box temperature cools. These have now been in the box for a month. The large cuttings are Shishigashira and rootstock JM. The small cuttings are Kashima.

 

[eplov90]

This year I decided to try to achieve the same result but with an approach that doesn’t actually require any bottles.

What I did is buy two plastic, transparent boxes and drilled small holes all over the bottom of one, then took some thick tape and made an elevated band around 15 cm up from the bottom of the drilled box so when it fitting it into the untouched one, I’d have more empty space below and a seal between them.

With that done i filled various pots and a pondbaskets with substrate and then stuck in cuttings of various sizes, including a fairly large trident piece from a trunk chop. I arranged those pots in the top box sprayed it down with water and closed the top.
View attachment 604199View attachment 604198

All the water drains below to the bottom box, keeping a very humid but not wet environment above.
View attachment 604197
This trident chunk below was put into the pond basket in the box on May 29th and you can see decent results in less than a month!
View attachment 604194

View attachment 604196View attachment 604195

Early results seem positive but let’s see how the rest of the material in there does since I can’t see in the pots. Currently it contains AP Beni Chidori, AP Arakawa, AP Koto Hime, Trident Maple.

Over the weekend I took the trident cutting out of the shared pond basket, trimmed its roots and planted it in its own pot. The roots are looking great with a near perfect radial spread:



I’ve put it back in the contraption to let it get established and will then transition it out if needing high humidity over the next month using a ziplock bag.

 

[stubmle]

I started a few last week- a bit late, but they were problematic branches I was going to remove anyway, so no harm if they don't make it. 2 cuttings from a Sharp's Pygmy, 2 from a Mikawa Yatsabusa. Not very large branches, only about pencil thickness at the base. No rooting hormone because I forgot to apply it. If it works out, I'll try some larger branches next year. One difference in my approach to those mentioned previously is I am using a white trash bag to cover them- didn't have a clear bag large enough. Hopefully it lets in enough light to keep the foliage going!

No pics at the moment, but I'll post updates as things progress.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

Here's my first try. The larger maple cuttings are in the plastic bottles. The others are in pots. I should have removed most leaves, but didn't realize, so now I see a few dead and shriveling leaves. No holes in either box, but I only mist once a week, so there's just about 1/8" of water in the bottom when the box temperature cools. These have now been in the box for a month. The large cuttings are Shishigashira and rootstock JM. The small cuttings are Kashima.

Today I was curious about whether any roots were going on at the 40 day mark. None visible yet in my bottles. My small cuttings, which I planted with numerous leaves out of ignorance, are all still green and a few seem to have new little leaves. I pulled one out and it had a few little roots!

Very excited because I think most of the cuttings are going to make it. Today I finished filling more boxes with more Japanese maple cuttings: Kotohime, Saiho, Seiryu, Murrasa Kyohime, Allen's Gold, Nishiki Gawa, and others. Tried a few thicker ones just to see what happens. This time removed most leaves and did both node and heel cuttings.

My conclusion so far is that using bottles, if it works, isn't easier than air layering using the plastic root balls.

 

[MMJNICE]

Today I was curious about whether any roots were going on at the 40 day mark. None visible yet in my bottles. My small cuttings, which I planted with numerous leaves out of ignorance, are all still green and a few seem to have new little leaves. I pulled one out and it had a few little roots!

Very excited because I think most of the cuttings are going to make it. Today I finished filling more boxes with more Japanese maple cuttings: Kotohime, Saiho, Seiryu, Murrasa Kyohime, Allen's Gold, Nishiki Gawa, and others. Tried a few thicker ones just to see what happens. This time removed most leaves and did both node and heel cuttings.

My conclusion so far is that using bottles, if it works, isn't easier than air layering using the plastic root balls.

I'm curious to hear if the shishgashria maples have rooted? I've heard they don't root from cuttings. I'm extra curious because I have a really large one I've been airlayering without Success so this method could come in handy for me at this point for smaller branches. All the smaller branches I've tried to airlayer have failed ,,only the two larger branches I'm Attempting to airlayer haven't dried up yet so it's up in the air if those work yet.

 

[MMJNICE]

The idea is a tight seal between the two bottles, and drainage holes in the top bottle

Meaning for water to escape the bottom bottle it goes back into the rootzone and maintains high humidity in the soil

Even after the top propagator is removed many people in the UK are now keeping not just cuttings but also their small trees in the double bottle contraption and then slip potting them for shows, before putting them straight back

Today I was curious about whether any roots were going on at the 40 day mark. None visible yet in my bottles. My small cuttings, which I planted with numerous leaves out of ignorance, are all still green and a few seem to have new little leaves. I pulled one out and it had a few little roots!

Very excited because I think most of the cuttings are going to make it. Today I finished filling more boxes with more Japanese maple cuttings: Kotohime, Saiho, Seiryu, Murrasa Kyohime, Allen's Gold, Nishiki Gawa, and others. Tried a few thicker ones just to see what happens. This time removed most leaves and did both node and heel cuttings.

My conclusion so far is that using bottles, if it works, isn't easier than air layering using the plastic root balls.

Edit.. just checked the clear plastic balls and I finally have a few roots showing through the ball so hell yeah! Should be nice little tree's if they survive the transplant but still curious about the shishgashria cuttings.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

Edit.. just checked the clear plastic balls and I finally have a few roots showing through the ball so hell yeah! Should be nice little tree's if they survive the transplant but still curious about the shishgashria cuttings.

My large Shishigashira cuttings in bottles aren't showing roots at the 40 day mark, but that doesn't mean roots haven't started. I noticed that some of the leaves browned and dropped off after a couple of weeks, but now the cuttings all look good and green. I'll let you know what happens next month.

 

[Notsureaboutplantnames]

Today I was curious about whether any roots were going on at the 40 day mark. None visible yet in my bottles. My small cuttings, which I planted with numerous leaves out of ignorance, are all still green and a few seem to have new little leaves.

Did I miss the part that most or all the leaves should be removed?

 

[eplov90]

Did I miss the part that most or all the leaves should be removed?

No you didn't. I thin out the foliage a little but leave most on.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

No you didn't. I thin out the foliage a little but leave most on.

I was talking about my small cuttings (Kashima JM) that aren't in bottles. All advice on taking those says to cut at a node or heel, then strip all but a couple of leaves. In spite of not doing that, my small cuttings seem to be alive and rooting, based on checking a couple of them. I have my large cuttings (OG JM and Shishigashira JM) in bottles and my small cuttings in pots in the same clear plastic box.

It's been so hot that I do spray with copper fungicide once every two weeks.

 

[stubmle]

I started a few last week- a bit late, but they were problematic branches I was going to remove anyway, so no harm if they don't make it. 2 cuttings from a Sharp's Pygmy, 2 from a Mikawa Yatsabusa. Not very large branches, only about pencil thickness at the base. No rooting hormone because I forgot to apply it. If it works out, I'll try some larger branches next year. One difference in my approach to those mentioned previously is I am using a white trash bag to cover them- didn't have a clear bag large enough. Hopefully it lets in enough light to keep the foliage going!

No pics at the moment, but I'll post updates as things progress.

Just got a notification for this thread and realized I never posted an update. Unfortunately my cuttings didn't make it- I was away for the weekend and we got an unexpected heatwave. I'm definitely going to try again, though.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

I opened up my box a little to let in fresh air for a few days. It was six weeks after the large cuttings were put in the bottle set up. The Shishigashira cuttings immediately turned brown and when pulled out had zero roots. The OG Japanese maple in the bottle seems to be thriving, so I don't know if it's the kind of maple or the bottle setup making the difference.

My Kashima JM leaf cuttings in the same box mostly rooted (80%) stuck in 50/50 coconut choir and perlite. This surprised me since as a total novice I used cuttings with many leaves and the casualties were almost all the smaller cuttings with fewer leaves.

In other boxes with cuttings of various JMs all planted the common way shown by various YouTube people - single small cutting with only 2 leaves - my success was very small. Cuttings rotted. These were begun second week of June when our weather was already in the 90s and stayed that way for 6 weeks. I also lost cotoneaster and some Chinese elm cuttings in these boxes.

It's definitely been a learning year for propagation. Thankfully, I changed to the plastic balls for air layering and had great success, so I'll stick to that instead of doing the larger cuttings in bottles.

 

[RoadManDenDron]

Shishigashira cuttings immediately turned brown

For this reason it prefer to remove cuttings with visible roots

Rather than drop the humidity or maintain humidity for everything

Usually you can see within half an hour if they will wilt or are ready, if they wilt simply put them back in the container and try again down the line

 

[Betula1]

When is the optimum time to start these cuttings? I started a load of mixed acers and other deciduous cuttings back in May and only 5 out of 30 have survived- though I think thats partly due to them getting cooked due to us having the hottest summer on record! Would it be better starting them in autumn/ fall which is the traditional time for striking hardwood cuttings here in UK?

 

[Gabler]

When is the optimum time to start these cuttings? I started a load of mixed acers and other deciduous cuttings back in May and only 5 out of 30 have survived- though I think thats partly due to them getting cooked due to us having the hottest summer on record! Would it be better starting them in autumn/ fall which is the traditional time for striking hardwood cuttings here in UK?

I'm sure it varies by climate. You should test it out.

Also, bear in mind that your hottest summer on record still looks cool and breezy for about half the users here. It looks like your highest high temperature was about 96°F in Kent, which just looks like a normal summer heat wave to me.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

When is the optimum time to start these cuttings? I started a load of mixed acers and other deciduous cuttings back in May and only 5 out of 30 have survived- though I think thats partly due to them getting cooked due to us having the hottest summer on record! Would it be better starting them in autumn/ fall which is the traditional time for striking hardwood cuttings here in UK?

Even though this was my first year starting cuttings, I had similar results that I also blame on very high heat (90s) for an extended period of time. But my original cuttings, taken on May 30 and kept in clear bins that got a small amount of sun (the casualties were all in total shade) had an 80% success rate. Go figure.

 

[Betula1]

I'm sure it varies by climate. You should test it out.

Also, bear in mind that your hottest summer on record still looks cool and breezy for about half the users here. It looks like your highest high temperature was about 96°F in Kent, which just looks like a normal summer heat wave to me.

This summer was abnormal for us here in UK because the heat and drought conditions persisted for so long. Many of my long established hardy flowering garden plants eg Escallonia, Buddleia , Hebe , Fuchsias, Hydrangea and Salvias have shrivelled and many flowers aborted this year, though Ive managed to keep my bonsai going by keeping everything shaded and watering 2 or even 3 times a day during the severe heat. Thankfully we are now getting back to more normal weather with showers and cooler conditions sweeping in off the Atlantic. We now need months of steady rain to restore our shrunken lakes and rivers to normal.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

We now need months of steady rain to restore our shrunken lakes and rivers to normal.

What are these "lakes and rivers" you speak of?

But seriously, this has been a crazy year of weather, it appears, globally. This was the first year since I moved to the desert in Y2K that we had almost 8" of rain from the end of May to the beginning of July. Our first ±100° F day didn't happen until well into July. It seems we stole the weather from the US east coast and gave them our heat. Most years, we hit 100° by the end of May or early June.
Don't get me wrong, we still had/have plenty of heat, but not the usual 20 or 30 days of triple digits. Typically, we get about 382 days of sunshine here annually. No complaints. I still love it here.

 

[leatherback]

What are these "lakes and rivers" you speak of?

They are low places in the terrain where water accumulates in case of precipitation exceeding the absorption capacity of the soil.
If these low places have a dip with sort of retaining walls the water will stand still, and we refer it to a lake. Often hoewever they form lines in the soil (due to continuous accumulation of excess water slicing through the surface, a process we refer to as erosion) and water flows downwards along the lowest point in these lines. These water features we refer to as rivers. Quite exciting, really!

 

[August44]

Covering everything, plant leaves and bottle.

Great presentation. Do you have a lot of problems with fungus with all of the humidity?