David P
Mame
Hi Bnuts, do you guys think it’s too late in the season to set up an air layer on a JPM? I live in Southern California.
Japanese Maple air layer timing
- Thread starter David P
- Start date
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
I feel like its too late for me in zone 6B. If it rooted I still could have problems with wintering. This is about the time I would separate them.
leatherback
The Treedeemer
I guess you do not have winter there so I would say, why not?
namnhi
Masterpiece
I think you should be fine for being in Southern CA. Your winter is mild and most JM will take about 6 to 8 weeks to root.
David P
Mame
Thank you all I will give it a try.
SeanS
Omono
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- USDA Zone
- 9b
I’m in the southern hemisphere but still zone 9b. I’ve started a few layers as late as January (your July) and still separated them within the rest of the season and had them do perfectly fine 
potatofarmer
Mame
stupid question but you only cut the bark off and leave the cambium layer right?
RoadManDenDron
Chumono
No, you have to scrape off all the cambium too,
If you leave even the tiniest bit of cambium the tree will just bridge the gap and and not root
potatofarmer
Mame
that makes sense. thanks.
i guess it's too late to do an air layer here in vancouver?
doing it in spring actually seems sketchy because here it randomly likes to go from 20 degrees to negative in spring.
i'm assuming negative temp will most likely kill the roots.
RoadManDenDron
Chumono
That would be best for someone familiar with your climate to answer
Ideal time is not really early spring more later spring as the leaves have hardened off and are feeding energy back to the tree, if that's any help.
Many places like the UK where I am it's OK to leave layers over winter
Ideal time is not really early spring more later spring as the leaves have hardened off and are feeding energy back to the tree, if that's any help.
Many places like the UK where I am it's OK to leave layers over winter
Supalive
Seed
I am in Vancouver too. I have my 3 first air layers on. The first 2 I did in early June but left cambium on so I am redoing them today. I'm hoping they will root by end of September.
potatofarmer
Mame
i will be asking you later how it went.
potatofarmer
Mame
andrewiles
Shohin
@potatofarmer it's a bit late to start a layer now. You'll have a better chance of survival if you wait until next year. I'm either just south or just north of you depending on which vancouver you're in, but either way a good time to start layers here is in May. You can do sooner or a little later, but anything past early June can get you into trouble with not enough summer left after separation to get your layer established.
potatofarmer
Mame
yes i should have specified I'm not planning to do this until next year. so other than that it should work fine to do it so low on the main trunk?
andrewiles
Shohin
Sure, you can layer all the way down to the ground. The risk is that if you don't leave enough foliage on the tree below the layer point, the original tree may remain weak or die due to lack of energy making it to the roots. As long as you have a few branches below your layer point you should end up with two healthy trees in the end.
