Japanese maple air layer progression

[Rodrigo]

I purchased this Japanese maple last month and will be using this thread to document its progression.

The tree was an air layer separated last year. This is how I received it:



It started budding out about a week later so I removed the top. 5 -.75 inch of soil to see if I could get by with just a top-soil change but noticed there were multiple levels of roots and the old sphagnum moss was still around the root ball so I went ahead a did a full repot. The tree was nailed to a board but the board was sitting on the bottom of the pot, and since the soil was mounted pretty high, there was plenty of space for roots to grow along the trunk--hence the multiple levels of roots I saw before.
I pruned the roots to make a single root plane, pruned the roots at the bottom, reattached it to the board and potted it it back into the same pot.


I'll need to take cuttings this year to do some root grafts for the next repot. It's a decent start for a new airlayer though.
Here is the tree about a month later. It has really beautiful spring colors!


Within the last week though, the newest pair of leaves came out... Bent? And then it seems like it stopped growing altogether. I applied Infuse systemic fungicide granules after repot so I find it weird that it's already having issues like this. Any ideas what it could be?

It's been kind of rainy recently but the tree is under a cover on the patio so the leaves don't really get wet

 

[Rodrigo]

I never really found an answer as to why the newest leaves were coming out deformed but the general consensus is that it's probably water related. Luckily it rained pretty hard a couple of days ago so I have 2 5-gallon buckets full of water saved just for this tree and plan to set up a rain catch of some sort for our dry summers.

A few days ago I pruned back the long shoots to start working on ramification, and I left the branches that I want to thicken alone- mainly the left branch and the two bottom branches on the right.



There is also a couple of thick areas I plan on removing this summer, they're just too large of cuts to do now.

The first one is the top section, making the wired shoot the new leader for the left trunk on the main tree.



The second is the long straight section on the left. There are some buds right at the base of that shoot I'm hoping will pop before I cut off the shoot.



And the third is a long straight section at the back of the tree. The trunk is thick enough, I don't want such a large scar, and it's not seen from the front. It'll be sawn off in the summer since it's not doing anything for the design I have in mind.



The trunk if full of dormant buds, the pruning I did should get them growing and give me more branch options in the future. Looking forward to seeing what this tree looks like in 5-10 years!

 

[namnhi]

Looks like a pretty cool tree. Problem is you live in a zone that is not friendly for JM. I would be a bit more cautious on working too much on the root. I would keep it in full shade once the temp creeping up above 90.

 

[Rodrigo]

Thanks!
Yeah I do realize that the sun gets way too intense here for J Maples, I have it on my covered deck that gets morning sun and then very dappled shade the rest of the day instead of on my benches with the rest of my trees

 

[Rodrigo]

What the smallest you can ring the bark for an air layer?

I'm thinking instead of just cutting off the apex on my previous post, it would make a nice little tree if I could air layer it but it would have to be a tiny ring. Would it just bridge it and not layer?

 

[19Mateo83]

What the smallest you can ring the bark for an air layer?

I'm thinking instead of just cutting off the apex on my previous post, it would make a nice little tree if I could air layer it but it would have to be a tiny ring. Would it just bridge it and not layer?

View attachment 541185

I regularly do very thin air layers with no issues. You just have to be extra careful making your cuts.

 

[Gabler]

I regularly do very thin air layers with no issues. You just have to be extra careful making your cuts.
View attachment 541186

I don't think it was about the thickness of the branch. I think it was about the thickness of the cut.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

Why not go lower? Not much taper underneath that section.

 

[namnhi]

Doesn't look like you have enough foliage at the top to even support the air layer. I am a guy who like to strike cuttings, take air layers and grow a bunch of seeds... aka hoarder.... but in this case, I don't see it.

 

[Rodrigo]

Why not go lower? Not much taper underneath that section.
View attachment 541198

That's an option I hadn't considered. I'll have to go out and look at it through that lens later tonight. Thanks for the idea!

Doesn't look like you have enough foliage at the top to even support the air layer. I am a guy who like to strike cuttings, take air layers and grow a bunch of seeds... aka hoarder.... but in this case, I don't see it.

No yeah you're totally correct. I would let it grow enough above the layer point before doing it, I was just seeing if it's worth waiting or if I should just saw that part off. There is a bud in the perfect spot for the next trunk section, I may wait and see if it pops after the pruning I did, and depending on how it grows I'll try to layer it or remove it