Jean B. wrote:
B & J wrote:

Lots of luck! I tried taking cuttings from a Japanese maple
(Bloodgood) three years in a row with zero success. The cuttings
remained looking good for three months but failed to root.
Finally they obviously died. BTW, I use deep six packs in a peat
moss/sand mixture for all cuttings and wait until roots start
appearing through the bottom of the six pack before potting in
ProMix.

Since then I've been advised to start Japanese maples by layering
and was also told that it takes two years for the layered
branches to root. I layered a number of branches a year ago this
spring, and a couple that I check this spring had not rooted. I'm
hoping for better luck by next spring.

A couple who raise Japanese maples for the wholesale trade in our
area told our gardening group this past spring that all their
maples are started from collected seeds and that most are true to
the parent plant. At the moment I have a half dozen potted
seedlings that sprouted around the base of one of the trees.

JPS


To the first, oh sigh. I'd better not get my hopes up. I thought
I had read that Japanese maple seeds did not guarantee a tree like
the parent. That being said, a) I have a number of interesting
little seedlings of various ilks, which I have put into large pots
(maybe a mistake), and b) I could just kill the yard workers who
mow around my trees. (I am always hoping for interesting little
seedlings.) I do wish the seedlings that appeared around my
Moonfire maple bore some resemblance to it, but, thus far, no.

At least one of my trees would lend itself to layering, since it
has low branches. Or are you doing air layering? I have such a
black thumb--but I would love to propagate some of my maples.

Thanks,

Don't kill the yard workers, fire them.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5