Japanese Maple cuttings [From start to finish: A Guide]

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Is it opposite day? From my limited knowledge I'd think the opposite of several of these statements would be true? 🤔

I think your best plan of action is to re-read this thread in its entirety. Look up posts by the people you have been quite rude to - you will see that they know their stuff, are super helpful and their advice should be at the very least listened to and considered.

I'd then suggest reflecting on your comments - hopefully your attitude really needs to change if you want to be part of this community, and take up people's valued time asking for help. (They are always happy to do so - but only when it is appreciated by the OP).

I'd also consider therapy... You sound generally angry, extremely defensive and self-sabotaging.

I'd then come back and apologise to the members here (if you mean it). Or, if you want to forget the whole thing at that point... Create a new account, start again and think more carefully about the way you speak to people here.
I would suggest you find a japanese maple tree and do what i suggested. You may br surprised at what happens
 
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Wow, reading this entire thread was like when you go to a car race and there's a crash but you just can't look away. I'm really just a beginner with 1 year into the bonsai journey, so I don't have much to add to the cuttings discussion (actually I have followed regular guides on propagation without any problem), just wanted to say that the nerve of some people is astounding. I don't see anyone following this "Guide" in the future lol.

🦎
I see people thanking me and posting their own updates
 
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TL:dR and skipping to this last page confirmed it for me. Every day is precious, so stop feeding this troll and move on. They all eventually fall off and go away. I need to finish thinning out and pruning this one, a Japanese maple I started as a cutting over 25 years ago.
View attachment 370342
That looks like the species i am trying to root do you know its name and do you remember the method you used to root the cuttings? Were they softwood or hardwood? If i fail my plan is to try the hardwood cuttings winter is only 2months away from me at this point in time
 

SeanS

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Th

That looks like the species i am trying to root do you know its name and do you remember the method you used to root the cuttings? Were they softwood or hardwood? If i fail my plan is to try the hardwood cuttings winter is only 2months away from me at this point in time
The species is acer palmatum. In his thread I believe Dav4 simply cut the top off a 60 year old tree in the middle of winter and stuck it in some heavy clay soil. It’s been rooting for the last 25 years.
 

leatherback

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The species is acer palmatum. In his thread I believe Dav4 simply cut the top off a 60 year old tree in the middle of winter and stuck it in some heavy clay soil. It’s been rooting for the last 25 years.
It is on the internet so it must be true!

Did not knw one could do this. In our arboretum there is a 160 year old maple. Will go out tonight and cut it down to take cuttings
 

mandrei99

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You're not in a position to be making any suggestions.

I know you are not going to take this well, but i'm going to try to help you anyways: there are way too many things you've done wrong for you to be able to identify a single variable that is causing your failures. You've skipped ahead to blaming environment (humidity), but your procedure is totally off. Starting the cuttings on the right foot (see below) is the easiest thing to control, and probably the most important. To illustrate that point, consider that when i've run out of space in my propagation house, for fun i've planted cuttings in my vegetable garden with no humidity or mist, and success rates have been acceptable. This is not something I recommend doing, but again it shows the importance of good, clean, and confident technique and procedure.

Here are some annotations to accompany the attached images:

1 - Choose your branch. Perform the 'snap test'. You want to get a new shoot that 'snaps' (as opposed to flexing/bending). The shoot should 'snap' around the middle (the tip might still flex/bend, and the base might break). I take my cuttings as soon as they start 'snapping'. This is mid-May in eastern Canada. I take my branches early in the morning, before sunrise. Normally i water my trees in the morning, but the day before I take my cuttings I water my trees around 1pm. I don't know if this makes a difference, but somebody told me it does and i have not had any reason to question it. My parent plants are fertilized heavily (at the very upper limit of what is reasonable) as of early spring. I also don't know if this makes a difference, but somebody told me it does and i have not had any reason to question it. A lot of people dream of owning 1 big parent plant from which to take cuttings forever. This is a false hope, because juvenility is an important factor. My parent plants are always 3-5 years old, and are constantly rotating. This process is also important because it also allows me to select the parent plants with the best traits generation after generation.

2 - I take 1 internode with a stem long enough to bury 3-5cm in the substrate. Some people take 2 internodes, because they like to bury 1 node in the substrate. I've done both. They both worked equally for me, so i stopped burying nodes: a node buried is a cutting lost.

3 - This is the length I take

4 - Nowadays i use a grafting knife to cut/shave the base and expose cambium. In the image I am using scissors, but i prefer a grafting blade. I make 2 back-to-back cuts, as you would for a scion graft (I'm not going to explain scion grafting to you, and please don't go around saying it is undocumented LOL. Just google it!)

5 - I remove the leaf lobes. @Bonsai Nut explained the importance of humidity above. The reason for removing leaf lobes also has to do with reducing the rate of transpiration. You want as many factors as possible on your side in this race against the clock.

6 - I use 0.8% IBA rooting hormone. I also apply liquid cut paste to the tops. Some people don't, i do. Again, you want as many factors as possible in your favour.

7 - I place the cuttings in well-rinsed and well-watered substrate. Do not water after inserting cuttings because you will wash away the hormone. After this point I am misting so frequently that I don't have to water the substrate for 3-4 weeks (more than enough time for the hormone to do its job I think). My official recommendation for substrate is 3 parts perlite, and 1 part coco fibre husk (or pine bark). Use small particles, but not dust. In reality, i use whatever substrate happens to be closest to wherever i am standing. That's a privilege you earn after doing a few thousand of these per year for consecutive years. I'd start with perlite and coco husk or bark before trying anything else.

8 - This is a picture of a set-up i used to use at home while training with my teacher at his facility. That's a $29CAD 'mini greenhouse', with a $20CAD cool-mist humidifier. I would say that that's the bare minimum if you're semi-serious about this. I added the orbit misting nozzles (which you can see in the photo), connected to a hose timer and my garden hose. I forgot how long i was misting them, but it was something like 15 seconds every 10 minutes. You can do this by hand. I usually kept the door open and was able to keep humidity about 80-99% anyways. This tent received morning sun (sunrise to 11am), and was in shade for the rest of the day. Wetting the floor beneath the tent or placing a tray of water on the floor can help if you're having a hard time keeping humidity up. Bottom heat (see @leatherback's post) can help, but it's not necessary. Having it will be another factor on your side.

9 - Here is what they can look like by July or August of the same year (2-3 months post-cutting). I repot mine. I do not recommend that you repot yours. It is much safer to leave them in the tray, and repot in late winter/early spring the following year (9-10 months later). Winter protection is critical.

10 - Here is what they can look like in November (6 months post-cutting), best case scenario. Most of them will not push new growth like this, and that's fine.

Use sterilized tools and work area. re-sterilize in between parent plants. Use 1 tray/pot per parent plant.

To repeat what i said earlier in this thread: there are many factors and variables to control. You do not need all of them to be perfect, but when you deviate success rates drop.
CanadaBonsai, I have your PDF about propagation and I followed your steps almost to the letter (humidity dome with 2-3 times manual misting instead of automatic misting). Are those Deshojos in your photos?
 

mandrei99

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After reading half way through this thread, I want to thank all you for still trying to explain patiently the ins and outs of propagating maples via cuttings. You inspire to us keep faith in humanity.
 

Canada Bonsai

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Are those Deshojos in your photos?

Yes! Other cultivars that we use for bonsai will have higher success rates than Deshojo, such as Koto Hime (lazy man's Shishigashira), Kiyo Hime, Kashima, Arakawa, and Katsura. But i decided to use Deshojo because there were enough people online saying it was difficult or impossible, which was always ridiculous to me because my teacher has been doing them for 35 years
 

BrightsideB

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If you can’t clone just start from seed. Cloning is obviously for the masters…
 
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I want to try again though... To make a youtube bonsai channel... do you...

1. Think i should go suck it or
2. Have suggestions on how to do it better and not make the same mistakes as before? Or
3. Think it best i move on with my life and do something else? Comment down below👇 if youre bored 🤷‍♂️
 

choppychoppy

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I want to try again though... To make a youtube bonsai channel... do you...

1. Think i should go suck it or
2. Have suggestions on how to do it better and not make the same mistakes as before? Or
3. Think it best i move on with my life and do something else? Comment down below👇 if youre bored 🤷‍♂️

3.
 

leatherback

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You should do what makes you happy. If that means, hosting a youtube channel by al means. go ahead. They allow anybody to upload stuff there.
 

MAKman

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I was looking for some information on the timing of JM cuttings. I have been searching around here and on Google. I am usually seeing the step by step process, but no so much about the timing (season). I read one mention above about the cutting needing a good rooting system before winter. I am in Georgia (USA) and winters are relatively mild. Is it too late to attempt propagation through cuttings at this juncture? We are still seeing 25-30 degree daytime and 15-20 degree night time temps. It will remain warm into November usually. I apologize in advance if that was a dumb question. I have dealt with other cuttings for years whose environment can be artificially manipulated in terms of seasons through lighting (ex: reverting a cutting in early bloom to the vegetative state), but never with a deciduous species.
Thank you.
 

Nelis

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I was looking for some information on the timing of JM cuttings. I have been searching around here and on Google. I am usually seeing the step by step process, but no so much about the timing (season). I read one mention above about the cutting needing a good rooting system before winter. I am in Georgia (USA) and winters are relatively mild. Is it too late to attempt propagation through cuttings at this juncture? We are still seeing 25-30 degree daytime and 15-20 degree night time temps. It will remain warm into November usually. I apologize in advance if that was a dumb question. I have dealt with other cuttings for years whose environment can be artificially manipulated in terms of seasons through lighting (ex: reverting a cutting in early bloom to the vegetative state), but never with a deciduous species.
Thank you.
Hi @MAKman , welcome to the forum.
Firstly, go to your profile at the top of the page and add your location, very important if you want accurate, local answers.
Secondly, if you use the search option on the forum, you will get endless results for Japanese maple cuttings, unfortunately you ended up on one of the worst threads right here.
If done correctly, JM will root in about 6 to 8 weeks. Then you will need another month or so of good growth before the plant goes into dormancy. So make sure you give your cuttings enough time.

If all else fails, start your own thread. Don't hijack somebody else's thread with with your questions. This thread is a different story though, nobody cares about this thread.
 
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