"Hail Mary" cuttings from my favorite maple

[pwb]

I live in Nishitokyo, Japan. Behind my apartment is, on one side, a beautiful Edo-period Shinto shrine. And on the other side, a nursery where they grow trees for landscaping. Tonight, as I walked home from work I stopped to check on my favorite maple tree--a Japanese maple about 15 feet tall with very small leaves. To my great sadness, it was missing. They must have sold it. I had been hoping to get a clipping from it after it finished pushing out its first spring leaves.

On the ground, however, was a green branch from the tree. I carried it home and prepared some clippings from it and I'm letting them sit in some water this evening. I'm off tomorrow so I'll plant them properly in the morning. I'm hoping this long-shot rescue will actually work and maybe one of the clippings will root and grow. They're still in the bud stage, maybe a week or less from pushing out their leaves. Has anyone ever taken a clipping this early? Did you have good results?

I'll post some pics after I plant them tomorrow.

 

[Zelrod]

Mold is the biggest issue I’ve had with maple cuttings. Make sure everything is clean and the water doesn’t stand in your container. I’d think the timing wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Maple cuttings tend to take a while to root so be patient.

 

[pwb]

Mold is the biggest issue I’ve had with maple cuttings. Make sure everything is clean and the water doesn’t stand in your container. I’d think the timing wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Maple cuttings tend to take a while to root so be patient.

Thanks for the input. I just planted them this morning. Keeping my fingers crossed. The cuttings were from such a beautiful tree.

 

[pwb]

I planted them first thing this morning.

 

[ShadyStump]

I little while ago I started some cuttings from what I believe is tartaran maple. The larger ones almost immediately began budding, but the smaller they get the less activity I see. Not sure if that's a matter of the tree waking up from the base outward, or if the branch tip died in the winter weather.

Either way, I hear maples root very easily, and theoretically the growth hormones produced by growing leaves is supposed to be what helps push root growth.
I guess we'll find out.

 

[dbonsaiw]

I've only taken a dozen or so JM cuttings last year and they were all done when I pruned back before spring. Planted in 100% perlite and covered in sphagnum moss, I just left them in the shade and watered often. Half of them opened and lived. I did the same this year with trident maples (for next year grafts), but mixed the perlite with chopped moss this time to keep the moisture level higher. The tridents are opening up and we shall see. It's still relatively cold here in New York so not much water loss yet, although things are heating up.

Please keep us posted on your cuttings.

 

[Zelrod]

Keep them in indirect light and make sure there isn't standing water in the bottom of the container. There are some videos on YouTube on how others have had success.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Timing looks about right based on the buds, keep them well misted. Good luck.

 

[pwb]

They all died.