It does depend to some extent on the variety. The common Japanese
Mountain Maple - Acer palmatum is very easy to air layer. I've built a
forest by layering a few off a largeish tree growing in my garden every
year. I haven't done a Maple as a multiple layer at different heights on
the same tree yet though. I would tend to go for the top portion first
and work down.

If it's a named variety of Maple, especially something like a purple
dissectum it is likely to be much less vigorous on its own roots and may
not take from a layer.

You are nearing the end of the window of opportunity for layering this
year.

I find sphagnum moss the easiest by far.

Cheers

Kev Bailey
Vale Of Clwyd, North Wales


I bought this lovely Japanese Maple at my local nursery the other day
:-).
It's a lot more mature than the saplings I've been having so much touble
with - about 5' high and about 1cm diameter at the base. It looks very
healthy , just a touch of mealy bug which I've already sprayed for.

I'm going to chop it at some point, but would like the trunk to get a
bit
thicker first. In the mean time I want to get a few more plants out of
this
nice tree. Everything I've seen here leads me to beleive that it is
notoriously difficult to get cuttings from A. Palmatum to strike. How
about
layering? And what about multiple layers from the one trunk? I'd like to
make this one tree into 3, and get some variety of forms - single trunk
at
the base, and probably 2 dual trunks higher up, making branches into
secondary trunks by layering just under them. What's the best way to go?
Should I layer higher up the trunk, let the tree recover for a year then
layer off again lower where I want the first chop? Or would it be
better to
layer it lower down, where I want the first chop to go, then repot the
layered tree and layer that one again later?

Also, what's the best medium for layering A. almatum? (And the
Liquidambar
for that matter, I forgot to ask). Would sphagnum moss work, or some
other
medium?



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