Suckers As Cuttings

pbrown00

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I have a relatively large, mature vine/full moon maple in my yard. I've read that these cultivars (particularly full moon) do not root very well from cuttings. This maple has large suckers growing from its base. Do cuttings of suckers root well?
 

Dav4

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I have a relatively large, mature vine/full moon maple in my yard. I've read that these cultivars (particularly full moon) do not root very well from cuttings. This maple has large suckers growing from its base. Do cuttings of suckers root well?
Do the suckers have the same leaf shape and color as the Full Moon? These cultivars are generally grafted, and suckering from the base usually is from the root stock. The root stock is usually more vigorous then the grafted cultivar and if you're not careful removing them, will overtake the graft. You can certainly attempt to root any cuttings you take, though I'd be surprised if you got any full moon cuttings to take.
 

pbrown00

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Thats interesting. I'm not sure about the leaf shape now that I think about it. I'll try and get pics soon. What kind of maple is commonly used to graft full moons?
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Not maple specific, but suckers root like crazy once you put them in bonsai soil.
Just today I collected 10 cherry suckers from the lawn after coming to the conclusion that the ones I took 2 years ago are starting to look awesome.
just make sure you leave parts of the roots from which they originate attached.
 

pbrown00

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Not maple specific, but suckers root like crazy once you put them in bonsai soil.
Just today I collected 10 cherry suckers from the lawn after coming to the conclusion that the ones I took 2 years ago are starting to look awesome.
just make sure you leave parts of the roots from which they originate attached.

Thanks for the advice! Would it be ok to take the cuttings this time of year?
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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No, well, this time of the year there are suckers which the lawnmower hasn't chopped to bits (but that's just because I was lazy). So for me it was today or in the fall, or not at all.

There's a constant battle of course, with both very sound arguments:
Summer is too hot, dessication is around the corner. Spring is best, but this year we had 15 degrees C (5F) below freezing, and 3 weeks later 30 degrees C (86F) in the plus. Cuttings would have frozen to death.
Summer in my area is a growing season, even for roots. Our weather balances between tropical humid hot, rain season, or blazing dry heat and everything in between.
Fall can be early around here, but it can also be very late. There's always a shit tonne of rain and a lot of clouded days, so that's where the rot would kick in. Cutting I take in the fall have a hard time bouncing back to health before the winter kicks in.
It's a balancing game, whatever floats your boat, or as they say around these bonsai corners 'it depends'.

If you have enough to go around, maybe try a few now, a few in the fall and a few in spring.

My suckers went in the most coarse mix I could lay my hands on, and they're kept in a tray with a layer of water. The tray dries out in a day or three, the soil takes another day to dry. Then it's back to watering the tray again.
This approach seems to work in my yard, it's basically aquaponics. Due to the coarseness of the soil I use, there's enough air flowing and also enough water to produce pretty fine roots.
I can't however, recommend that method to anyone because it's retarded and shouldn't work like it does. My left-over pieces of original root, which are basically giant pieces of dead wood with some live wood in the center, should have started rotting by now. They're sitting in water. That's a bad thing. But it works, and it eases my mind that I don't have to water them 6 times a day.
 
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