Which Japanese Maples can be successfully air layered

[dahender]

Hi All,

My collection of Japanese Maples has expanded, and was hoping to air layer off of a few of them to share with my club-mates.

I've heard that some varieties will not grow successfully from a layer. eg: Someone mentioned that a Shaina may not grow on their own roots but need to be grafted to a strong maple root stock.

Can anyone help clarify if you have had success with air layering any of these, and which ones failed?

Bonfire
Butterfly
Corallinum
Coral Bark
Fireglow
Golden Full Moon
Mikawa Yatsubusa
Shaina
Shindeshojo
Shirazz
Shishigashira
Trident

Regards,

Dave

 

[discusmike]

Trident, and all the palmatums will layer, don't know about the full moon.

 

[Brian Underwood]

They will most likely all be able to be layered. Most of the varietals are grafted onto different rootstock to make them a little stronger, so once air-layered they will no longer have that quality. The very best way to find out is to DO IT! Good luck!

 

[Kodama16]

Agree they all will layer just fine. But some will be a little weaker to over watering or too dry conditions.

 

[edprocoat]

Just a quick question, will air layering take longer than on a trident if its grafted stock? I ask this because I occasionally see different types of Japanese Maples that are attractive trees with a horrible graft that I would love to try an air layer on. I feel that because they are air layered to give them stronger growth then if air layered it would have to slow them down for growth and perhaps the roots may not be strong enough to sustain the tree.

ed

 

[aphid]

I have bought several cultivars of Japanese maples online. I read that some cultivars like dwarf and witchbloom ones won't be as hardy or vigorous on their own roots so I'm planning to airlayer right below the graft union for the ones with ugly graft unions. Most of them look fine though. Mine come from Quality Maples and More. I specified for clean grafts with good taper. Most of them look really nice.

I do have a seiryu Japanese maple that has a nice graft but horrible long nodes at the bottom. I'm planning to airlayer it above the graft. It's a dissectum, but it's so fast growing and grows up right so maybe it will be strong enough on its own roots. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[dahender]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[Paulpash]

Just a quick question, will air layering take longer than on a trident if its grafted stock? I ask this because I occasionally see different types of Japanese Maples that are attractive trees with a horrible graft that I would love to try an air layer on. I feel that because they are air layered to give them stronger growth then if air layered it would have to slow them down for growth and perhaps the roots may not be strong enough to sustain the tree.

ed

Hi, the reason for grafting isn't always because the acer cultivar has 'weak' roots. Some varieties are very difficult to propagate by cuttings and the best route for mass production (and therefore to make it viable financially) is to graft. You then have a 'bigger' plant faster with a greater success rate.

My experience is that all palmatum, trident & campestre acers layer well (I have layered Trident, Field Maple, Deshojo, Orange Dream, Sango-kaku, Katsura & Ukon successfully). The only ones I have had trouble with are the cut leaf varieties (Dissectum) - they don't seem to be as strong as their cousins and my success rate is about 50% using the same technique as the others. Most successful layers in my climate & growing season can be separated in late June / mid July with a good size root ball. Tridents may root faster due to their faster 'metabolism' and growth habit.

My advice is to have a go and air layer and if you can, try to use a substrate in a pot rather than the traditional moss and bag approach. Sometimes this isn't possible I know, especially if you are planning on a vacation and can't guarantee to water it regularly. It's a pain in the a$$ tweezering out the moss once you can work the roots and you find that the nebari is in a bit of a ball shape.

Work the roots a little more conservatively on your layered trees for the first few seasons and observe the vigour of the tree and how it responds. My Katsura layer for example is stronger than the Sangu-Kaku so I am happier to be a little more aggressive with it at repotting time. I think this is maybe down to genetics but I have no proof of this - just observation.

Good luck & keep us posted.

 

[Cypress]

I attempted to air-layer a 'Shaina' JM off of a bad graft last summer and it failed miserably. I went into it with enough information that I knew it was very probable that it would fail. It's a witch's broom variety of JM and apparently witch's broom varieties are even harder to get to root.

My tree was living for at least two monts completely fine with the layer in place, but then we had a couple reallly hot days and it zapped the tree. I removed all the plastic and sphagnum during the 'autopsy' to see if it had done anything... there were a few tiny little knobs that looked like it had started to bud roots. But hardly. And for it to go that slow I doubt it would have ever been able to support itself for any long period of time on it's own roots even if I had been able to successfully remove the layer.

Here's some forum where people are discussing 'shaina' and other witch's broom maples just for landscape use and even then people seem to have huge problems with them being able to develop large rootsystems while growing on a graft:

http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=69305

One person stated this "It is said that maple witch's brooms cannot be grown on their own roots (by layering or cuttings etc) and can only be propagated by grafting."

I have heard/been told that JMs are slow to layer in general, so if you do attempt a layer on whatever variety... try to design it so you can have the pot/bag and sphagnum on there for two years if you need to.

 

[Dav4]

Regardless of species or cultivar, hedge your bets on success by performing layers on established, healthy trees that are growing strongly.

 

[aphid]

Brent at Evergreen Garden Works sells cuttings of different cultivars. If these can be propagated through cuttings, you can definitely air layer them.

Here's his list of Japanese maple cuttings. http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/acer.htm

 

[AndyJ]

Hi, the reason for grafting isn't always because the acer cultivar has 'weak' roots. Some varieties are very difficult to propagate by cuttings and the best route for mass production (and therefore to make it viable financially) is to graft. You then have a 'bigger' plant faster with a greater success rate.

My experience is that all palmatum, trident & campestre acers layer well (I have layered Trident, Field Maple, Deshojo, Orange Dream, Sango-kaku, Katsura & Ukon successfully). The only ones I have had trouble with are the cut leaf varieties (Dissectum) - they don't seem to be as strong as their cousins and my success rate is about 50% using the same technique as the others. Most successful layers in my climate & growing season can be separated in late June / mid July with a good size root ball. Tridents may root faster due to their faster 'metabolism' and growth habit.

My advice is to have a go and air layer and if you can, try to use a substrate in a pot rather than the traditional moss and bag approach. Sometimes this isn't possible I know, especially if you are planning on a vacation and can't guarantee to water it regularly. It's a pain in the a$$ tweezering out the moss once you can work the roots and you find that the nebari is in a bit of a ball shape.

Work the roots a little more conservatively on your layered trees for the first few seasons and observe the vigour of the tree and how it responds. My Katsura layer for example is stronger than the Sangu-Kaku so I am happier to be a little more aggressive with it at repotting time. I think this is maybe down to genetics but I have no proof of this - just observation.

Good luck & keep us posted.

Hey @Paulpash - I read with interest that you have air layered a number of Acer cultivars; I have picked up a Ukon that has been grafted really badly onto its rootstock and I’m thinking of setting a layer on it. Have you still got this tree? How did it do on its own roots? I’ve successfully layered Shishigashira and have two nice little trees to go along with its parent and currently have a layer on an Arakawa and an Osakasuki - not sure how any of these will do. Did the Deshojo survive and grow ok? I’ve got one of them that I’m thinking about layering too .....

 

[Paulpash]

Hey @Paulpash - I read with interest that you have air layered a number of Acer cultivars; I have picked up a Ukon that has been grafted really badly onto its rootstock and I’m thinking of setting a layer on it. Have you still got this tree? How did it do on its own roots? I’ve successfully layered Shishigashira and have two nice little trees to go along with its parent and currently have a layer on an Arakawa and an Osakasuki - not sure how any of these will do. Did the Deshojo survive and grow ok? I’ve got one of them that I’m thinking about layering too .....

Ukon layers OK and seems to be fine on their own roots. Deshojo is still doing well and I'm building a triple trunk shohin with it.

 

[ChrisChung]

@AndyJ Keen to hear more about your layered Shishigashiras. How long ago did you layer them and how are they doing now on their own roots?

 

[cmeg1]

My experience is that all palmatum, trident & campestre acers layer well (I have layered Trident, Field Maple, Deshojo, Orange Dream, Sango-kaku, Katsura & Ukon successfully).

Hi,any luck with shishigashira cuttings ....at all?
I have been having aeroponic success and have a little 1gallon shishigashira arriving today.

 

[cmeg1]

Think this is getting layered......maybe create a motherplant for minilayers too

 

[0soyoung]

any luck with shishigashira cuttings

Dav4 has air layered shishigashira, so cuttings ought to root as well.
Get busy!

 

[ChrisChung]

Hi,any luck with shishigashira cuttings ....at all?

I've got a few cuttings sitting inside a terrarium. Super high humidity so moisture loss shouldn't be a problem. Not sure why else a cutting would fail? We're just waiting for good nutrient exchange to produce roots before the cutting dies out from dehydration right?

I'll update if they take.