Beginner trees for Japanese Maple Forest

[SeanBarracudA]

Howdy folks,
I've been slowly collecting and air-layering Maples for a forest plantation. It's lovely to see spring is here and buds bursting, some faster than others.

I bought this big fella for $49 and reckon it had great potential for multiple trees (7 in total). Deciding where to create air-layers.

seansNewMaple.jpg

Maple with 6 air-layers, so this will give me 7 trees total (fingers crossed). I might also make some smaller cuttings to get some really fine / small trunks in to the mix.

bigMaple_airLayered.JPG

This is my first Maple, it seems to be the slowest to start leafing this spring:

maple1.JPG

This is my second maple, I have air-layered the middle. This one is leafing up nicely:

maple2.JPG

This is the bottom half of a really tall Maple, I've air-layered it to get a couple of shorter trees out of it:

maple3.JPG

This is the top half of the tall Maple. I'm going to cut off the 4 branches, but not all the way back to the trunk, I want to leave some structure to it. This will allow me to get 4 more extra small trees out of it (how economical is that! ahah):

maple4.JPG

What do you think is the best way to remove these branches to ensure best chances of the cuttings being successful? Cut off, dip in rooting powder, then plant in really wet soil, well drained, and keep moist as much as possible?

A smaller cutting that was successful:

mapleCutting.JPG

A couple of small cuttings, but the buds haven't burst yet. I'm beginning to wonder whether they ever will?

smallMaples.JPG

Sorry about such a long post, but I just wanted to lay it all down for the record. It's a great way to keep a record of how it all begun.

[kcpoole]

Yep for guttings do just liek you said.
Put a plastic cover over the put to keep the hyumidity up. Either a plastic bag, or 1/2 a softdrink bottle works well

Ken

[SeanBarracudA]

I've made the chops (on an angle), dipped in rooting powder and planted in well drained well moistened soil.
They've been in this pot for a week, out of direct sunlight, and covered with plastic soda bottles.

Maple_cuttings.JPG

Do you think they have too many lower leaves on them? I've read that normally you only leave a couple of leaves on the top of the cutting.
There were a couple of small/freshly burst leaves on the tops but over this week they've kind of shriveled up.

[kcpoole]

Cut off all the fresh tips as they will just dry out and pull moisture out of it. I only leave a leaf or 2 on mine.

the rest is good

Ken

[SeanBarracudA]

Sounds like a good plan. I shall get snipping soon.

How 'bout these youngsters below... they're very young, have very thin trunks, and are very tall and wiry. They are to be added to my eventual maple forest plantation.

I'm not sure whether I should just let them grow like crazy? Or cut them off down low.

If I should cut them right down low, should I do it soon? Or wait until they're dormant to maximize the growing / thickening season. They're so thin, you have to look closely to see the trunks.

sapling1.JPG

sapling2.JPG

sapling3.JPG

sapling4.JPG

sapling5.JPG

[SeanBarracudA]

BTW... these all have roots and are growing great-guns, they're NOT fresh cuttings.
I purchased these from the South Australian Annual Bonsai Show ($5 each).

[SeanBarracudA]

One and a half months later... showing lots of great spring growth. I'm really pleased with how these trees are going!
The air-layers are ALL showing signs of root growth. I am faced with one main question though. Should I cut back the ultra-long shoots to try and promote growth lower down the tree? Or just let them go for it and let them run wild until Autumn, then cut them back. See updated pics below. Keen to hear your thoughts.

SmallMaples.JPG

These are just babies.

Maple1.JPG

I'm really happy how this one is coming along, this is the first one I bought. The trunk has turned from coral pink to green! Exciting times!!!

Maple2.JPG

Maple2airLayer.JPG

Really excited that the air-layer is showing roots! I must be doing something right! The mixture was sphagnum moss, a tinsy bit of root powder and a smidgen of soil.

Maple3.JPG

This tree itself had an air-layer removed off the very top. Maple4 (the next tree below) was on top of this, so I wanted to strike another layer to help boost forest numbers, size and scale differences.

Maple3airLayer.JPG

Maple4.JPG

Unfortunately the 4 branch cuttings I took from this tree did not survive. The leaves went black, and they all just seemed to die off. I used root powder, kept them moist and warm, but to no avail.

BigMapleFront.JPG

This is my big maple on which I have approx 6 or 7 air-layers on the go at once.

BigMapleBack.JPG

It's a shame I can not see in to this container to see if roots are growing, I imagine they would be. I struck them the same time as all the others and they're all well on their way. I'm hoping that when I cut off all the air-layers from this tree that I don't harm it too much. I'm sure it'll take time to recover and heal, but it will be worth it. $49.95 for 8 trees of varying shape and size. Well worth it for beginning a forest plantation.

MapleLineUp2.JPG

MapleHabitat.JPG

And this is where they live. Part shade, part sun. When it gets hotter in South Australia, I think I'm going to have to get them in to a shadier spot because during the day the sun can be very fierce. I will move them to a morning sun / rest of day shade / scattered sunlight - type area.

[eddieperth]

Really brilliant stuff! Keep us posted on the progression. How many are you thinking for your forest?

[SeanBarracudA]

Thanks mate. Right now I'm in collection and cultivation mode. I have not yet begun to think about exactly how many of these I could actually feasibly put in to a forest plantation. I like the idea of a slab, but I don't think my skills are there yet. I reckon these trees need at least another couple of years before I think about bonsai'ing them. Also... I may end up wanting to save a couple for stand-alone trees. My concern with that idea though is that they're all very straight.

But if I had to make an estimation for the number of trees in my future plantation, I reckon I would want in-between 15 and 20 something trees. I feel that's just enough to be able to let the mind wander through

[SeanBarracudA]

My question is... do I let the shoots and growth run wild until they go dormant to maximize the new root growth on air-layers and to overall strengthen tree and trunk?
Or should I cut them back and promote lower growing foliage?

Severing the air-layers is also an important question. When is best?!? I am in South Australia.

[alpineart]

Hi Sean , Mate 1 thing that concerns me is the first pic shows a Coral Bark Maple , which is grafted in most cases onto Acer Palmatum . The roots on a grafted tree are more vigourous than the grafted stock root mass . When you graft off a section of a grafted tree you end up with an inferior root mass which is unable to maintain the tree over the coming seasons . . Personal experience has shown that will they grow for one or two seasons in most cases , then die , the same goes for seed grown Ornamental Maples . I wish you luck, but i hope your efforts aren't in vain .

Cheers Alpineart

[SeanBarracudA]

nooooooo! I will cross my fingers mate. I appreciate the honest and informative words.

Yes, most of these are of the coral variety.

My air-layer with the green maple seems to have worked well, but I am now a little worried about the corals.

I will have to take extra good care of them and leave their air-layers on for as long as possible to get as many roots as possible to maximize my chances of success.

I might also spray them with liquid rooting hormone and plant in really good quality soil once I have removed them.

How long do you think I should leave the air-layers on for? And do you think I should trim off the excessively long spring growth? or leave it on to maximize strength of the overall tree?

[alpineart]

Hi Sean , mate i have never layered a coral bark maple before , but the process will definately take longer to establish o good root mass . Leave all the foliage on as this will aid the root production . I would be thinking of inarch grafting or thread grafting Acer Palmatum seedling into the lower base for added root mass . This can be done in winter next year or it could be tackled now depending on your experience with layering and grafting .

Leave the layer in place until then won't hurt it any and before severing if you haven't already done the grafting , thread or inarch the whips and give them a couple of months into the next growing season to begin to fuse and then trim back the Coral Bark and let the palmatum whips grafted on run with as much vigor as possible . With luck by the end of next years growing season you may just have an established root mass that will support the Coral Bark . Don't be hasty to sever it , even little ones grow for quite some time then drop dead .

Good luck . Cheers Alpineart

[SeanBarracudA]

I have been doing some thinking about the lower success-rate of coral variety air-layers. I have only been learning about trees / bonsai / plant cultivation for 1 year.

I have not attempted grafting before, only air-layering. I know there always has to be a first time for everything, this forum has oodles of helpful information for me to learn with.

But in terms of helping the Coral air-layers chances of success (without grafting), Possibility: I could remove the gladwrap from around the sphagnum moss air-layer (after another month or so) and position a plastic pot around the layer, which I could fill with a mixture of more sphagnum moss and more good quality soil and dynamic lifter to help ease the transition from going from sphagnum moss, straight in to a pot with soil in it. This would also allow the root ball to get bigger and have more room to grow. The only danger with this would be risk of it drying out.

This method worked well with my Acer Palmatum air-layer (Maple3 and Maple4).

Would leaving these air-layers on for a whole-nother season (until this time next year) cause any rotting problems around the new root ball because it's been wrapped up for so long?

In Australia, generally, when is the best time to remove an air-layer, while it's leaves are in bloom? Or while it's dormant? I would have thought while it still has leaves so that it can keep bringing nutrients in.

[alpineart]

Hi Sean , mate i wouldn't hesitate to transfer to an open pot method of layering , there will be no issues i can see . I would err on the side of caution using dynamic lifter of a set layer , i use seasol powerfeed normal strength every month but that's it . With open pot layers if the blend is free draining just water the same as a bonsai . I use my bonsai mix with a hand full of chopped spagnum in an 200-250mm pots , this allows the layer to stay in place longer for those stubborn to root plants of give plenty of room for quick growing varieties .

In winter simply place a sheet of plastic over the top to reduce the amount of water entering from hopefully all the rains we get . I prefer to sever later in the growing season but have had no issues with severing in Winter if watering is monitored .

Cheers Alpineart