Acer Campestre advice? Tips?

[Tntthunder]

Just got a few Acer Campestre on sale at the local garden nursery with this being my first go at maples. I don't plan to do any work until end of winter, just learning for now. Any advice on the do's and don'ts? Also got a few questions.

Are they similar to Japanese maples in terms of techniques? I have watched a lot on Japanese maples as that seems to be what people use the most.

Can they be defoliated? Should I?

When cutting branches, should I cut flat, concave or convex? How much?

What temps should I be protecting it from the winter? -5Celcius or higher/lower

Also they're quite tall, instead of cutting them back was thinking it could be cool to learn to air layer for more of them. However I live in a very cold nation (can get as low as -26 Celcius normally) with quite short growing seasons, can air layers be done in this climate or should I not bother? I have a south east glass balcony if that could help keep them protected over the winter if that matters.

 

[bluone23]

I have a few, and they somehow are similar to jm but not really:

You should defoliate only a healthy tree in later stages of development

They heal relatively quick, i cut bigger branches with a concave cutter and they calus over

I left them outside, -5c -10c and were fine

I have airlayerd a few, but my growing season is longer than yours. Its good to try and if it fails then you know.
You can also propagate them from root cuttings

In my climate I ussualy start repoting 1st of march to avoid any late frosts.

 

[Tntthunder]

I have a few, and they somehow are similar to jm but not really:

You should defoliate only a healthy tree in later stages of development

They heal relatively quick, i cut bigger branches with a concave cutter and they calus over

I left them outside, -5c -10c and were fine

I have airlayerd a few, but my growing season is longer than yours. Its good to try and if it fails then you know.
You can also propagate them from root cuttings

In my climate I ussualy start repoting 1st of march to avoid any late frosts.

Awesome thank you! By callus over do you mean flat/no scarring or leave a wound there?

I Like the look of both smooth and scarred so would be interesting to know what I can do by certain cuts.

Again thanks for the help!

 

[bluone23]

Here are a few yamadori of A. campestre.
The layers were put in place in late summer so no roots currently(will leave them on untill next year to see what happens)

 

[bluone23]

Awesome thank you! By callus over do you mean flat/no scarring or leave a wound there?

I mean the way it heals over a cut. It heals preety fast