AboutTom Alonzo Expertise I have been growing plants from seeds for at least 20 years. I have grown literally hundreds of different kinds of vegetables, trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, tropicals, some cacti, water plants, iris, rose, lilies, cannas, etc. I enjoy starting from seed.
Experience I've been growing my own seeds for 20 years with indoor propagation equipment I built myself. I am also an Allexperts volunteer on the perennial forum. I have completed the Master Gardener course through the Kansas State University Extension. I have experience with a wide variety of seeds and I have also read through Norm Deno's books on seed germination.
Question i have a japanese maple which i like to get a cutting from , how would i go about it. cheers.
Answer Hi Mehrzad,
Thanx for your question. I have previously posted here that Japanese maple are nearly impossible to propagate from cuttings. I would advise layering. Does your tree have a branch that can be fastened to the ground? If so, you can scrape the area of the branch to touch the ground, put some rooting hormone on it, dig a depression in the soil and place the wounded branch in the depression, cover with soil and put a rock on top to keep the branch from moving. Next spring, the branch should have rooted and you can cut it away from the parent plant, dig it up and plant it in the desire location. Most Japanese maples are grafted and I have no experience in grafting.
If you want to go ahead and try to root some cuttings, here are some simple instructions.
Use the tips of vigorous pencil-size shoots in late spring and place under mist (or place the pot of growing medium inside a clear plastic baggie to maintain humidity). Wounding (use a knife to scrape a strip of bark off the stem) and relatively strong applications of rooting hormone are helpful. Stick into a sand-peat mix or use a 1:1 mixture of peat and perlite. It's often difficult to overwinter rooted maple cuttings. Try to induce new growth shortly after rooting, by using lighting and fertlizer.
Also, you can try taking hardwood cuttings in midwinter and root in a greenhouse after wounding and using rooting hormone.
I'm sorry to sound so negative but I didn't have any luck and I have ready varying accounts of rooting success. The big boys and girls in the commercial propagation use grafting. I hope this helps.
Tom
