Japanese Maple cuttings [From start to finish: A Guide]

[Dkdhej]

This thread deserves to be in the resources section

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

Why are your cuttings going brown and crispy? You mention moisture and hydration but think it through, why are they are not hydrated, specifically?

Its fine to do experiments and try things, no matter what it is, but its not helping anyone if we don't understand WHY something does what it does. Whether it fails or not, try to understand why it failed, or why it succeeded.

Some information I got from Ryan Neil, as I don't really want to contribute much knowledge as I am not good enough to do so (I don't want people following my unproven and inexperienced opinion); Rooting hormone does not cause roots to form. (Mind blown).

See im assuming high humidity as heat as a combination is bad for this specific cutting. Softwood. I have rooted evergreen trees "in broad daylight". Theres a video i did on a nicotiana glauca plant that i did and replicated the results. I also have good results with ficus and jades etc. Seems like there is a specific method anf behavior to how the trees grow and can be propagated. Think about air layers. How big a humidity dome would you need for that thing yet they succeed. Think about it. If youre removing the cambium then youre basically making a massive cutting. And most air layers happen in the full sun. Just think about it. I also came here to update that i am getting new buds pushing out. On even the brown dried up cuttings! I only left the top 2 buds active and removed the lower buds to encourage root formation at multiple points. I stuck all damaged buds underground to satisfy my "60% of the cutting minimum should be under ground to excite the tree and keep it as moist as possible" rule. I will do a video and post pictures soon. We need to figure this out because we are all intelligent beings here.

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

Hi,
How many years of horticultural experience have you got? Why are you trying to disprove everything others have proven when it looks like you have zero clues to complete any horticultural task? And yet in the same thread you ask for help?

Really?? I don’t know why I have read this whole thread, and by the way - keep using your garden soil or clay stuff you talk about because you obviously have not read all the resources section of this website on propagating or potting soils or any threads on this website by experienced practitioners with 30-60 years experience horticulturally speaking.
Good luck with your propagating, push the limits with your written limited experience, and we will all enjoy not helping anymore. Do you want help or is this just a troll thread and I have wasted my time like everyone else.

Go ahead, be rude to everyone, be arrogant and ignorant all in one thread, and then are you going to play “I am the victim” card?. And by the way, research propagation via cuttings, as there are so many books, university papers, etc to help your theory before even starting the practical.
I know nothing about horticulture after 30 years because I never stop learning.
Good luck,
Charles

I like your passion charles. Help me make these cuttings work man ive tried it all! This sucks

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

Good lord what did I just read? This is the guy that has the nerve to trash Nigel and then start this thread and be a complete jackass to people that are trying to be polite and helpful? Have a nice life mate.

Im going to have a nice life after i root these damn cuttings and design a tree so ostentatious you will beg me to sell it to you. You will beg me for that tree sir mark my words.

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

You're on the right track! Roots need the green pigment from leaves to grow, so when a cutting needs to grow roots it draws the green from the foliage and sends it down to the part where roots need to grow. Once the roots are growing and established it sends the green back up to the foliage part of the cutting, with extra water and nutrients that the roots sucked from the soil. When you see the crispy brown foliage start greening up again it means the roots are established and the cutting is ready to be styled.

Considering it is now Autumn here in SA, have you considered how you will overwinter these cuttings? Do you think they will have enough time to grow the roots necessary to be ready to go dormant? The average first 50% frost date in Johannesburg is 24 May.

See i like that you stayed on the topic and still took jabs at me. This is an actual conversation.

Ive considered everything to the last letter.

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

yup, this is NOT how it works.

The green pigment captures light, transforms it into sugars. The growing tip creates hormones that signal to the roots: I am growing, you should be too. The accumulate at the cutsite, and thus trigger a rooting response.

Chlorophyll does NOT move down to become roots.

I would suggest that the tree "dies back" slowly by absorbing its own nutrients to make new roots/repair damage. Like how your body burns fat to make energy. Ive seen it with my collected trees. They sort of die and then come back to life if the collection was done well. It is rarely an easy transition from the ground to in a pot. His logic makes sense he was just being humorous dont be such a hard ass

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

Short update


i am getting new buds pushing out. On even the brown dried up looking partial sun cuttings! I only left the top 2 buds active and removed the lower buds to encourage root formation at multiple points. I stuck all damaged buds underground to satisfy my "60% of the cutting minimum should be under ground to excite the tree and keep it as moist as possible" rule. I will do a video and post pictures soon. After the cuttings roots i have no idea what im going to do. This was a shot in the dark

 

[leatherback]

His logic makes sense he was just being humorous dont be such a hard ass

Sorry nope. And, who are you to tell someone off.

They sort of die and then come back to life if the collection was done well

If this is what you see, you are doing something wrong. The tree should not be dying back unless you do something risky.

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

Sorry nope. And, who are you to tell someone off.


If this is what you see, you are doing something wrong. The tree should not be dying back unless you do something risky.

Collecting it from the wild is the stressful event here. Digging a tree up from the ground is not a straightforward process theres tons of logistics humidity proper drainage so the roots dont rot while they recover etc. Its a life and death situation for the plant eapecially the older it is. How do you collect trees? Im curious to find out si i can improve my technique because i thought the dying back was normal especially if you just pot it up and put it a shady or partial sun area

 

[JoeH]

Im going to have a nice life after i root these damn cuttings and design a tree so ostentatious you will beg me to sell it to you. You will beg me for that tree sir mark my words.

nope never will. I can dig up better material at work and know better to torture them with the constant molesting you do to the trees.

 

[SeanS]

After the cuttings roots i have no idea what im going to do. This was a shot in the dark

I thought you had it all planned out?

Im going to have a nice life after i root these damn cuttings and design a tree so ostentatious you will beg me to sell it to you. You will beg me for that tree sir mark my words.

 

[Woocash]

I would suggest that the tree "dies back" slowly by absorbing its own nutrients to make new roots/repair damage. Like how your body burns fat to make energy. Ive seen it with my collected trees. They sort of die and then come back to life if the collection was done well. It is rarely an easy transition from the ground to in a pot. His logic makes sense he was just being humorous dont be such a hard ass

Maybe do more reading and less talking. Your flawed beginner logic will never be a match for the decades of experience that is readily available to draw upon.

Newbs always want to reinvent the wheel (myself included), but in the end they always end up falling back on the knowledge of those that have been there and done it.

 

[MrWunderful]

. Think about air layers. How big a humidity dome would you need for that thing yet they succeed. Think about it. If youre removing the cambium then youre basically making a massive cutting. And most air layers happen in the full sun. Just think about it.

This is 100% incorrect, and displays how little you know about horticulture.

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

nope never will. I can dig up better material at work and know better to torture them with the constant molesting you do to the trees.

I dont molest them constantly just sometimes when i feel like it

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

I thought you had it all planned out?

I have a general idea... keep them warm and in high luminosity conditions.. better than outside atleast for the next 6 or so months while the seasons change from fall to winter to spring. It'll be touch and go for a while i can already imagine (that is if the cuttings root, i dont want to get ahead of myself we are still in schroedingers situation here i dont want to touch them in fear of ruining them we will just watch and wait until new growth emerges)

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

Maybe do more reading and less talking. Your flawed beginner logic will never be a match for the decades of experience that is readily available to draw upon.

Newbs always want to reinvent the wheel (myself included), but in the end they always end up falling back on the knowledge of those that have been there and done it.

I have no retort

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

E

This is 100% incorrect, and displays how little you know about horticulture.

Educate me then MR WONDERFUL

 

[Bravura Bonsai]

ANOTHER UPDATE

There are dead cuttings and green cuttings in all my pots. I think some of them may be alive and starting to root. I moved my oldest cuttings that were in the shade into the sun to try and get the pots to heat up. The shade has done its job of not letting them dry out too quickly and i have notices i have more dry cuttings in the batches that started out in partial sun and were not in the shade from the start. I hope the introduction of heat to the cuttings that were in the shade does something. I just did it on intuition and not based on any actual information i may have.

The bigger air layer style cuttings dried up within a week but the leaves are still green and attached to the big cuttings. Some of the big cuttings dried up faster than others but what was interesting to note is that for the last few days the leaves have stayed attached to the cuttings. They are curled up but not dried and dead like you would expect. The big cuttings are proving an interesting experiment and i will take pictures to show you when some dramatic changes occur or if they dry up and die as expected.


I post videos every month on each tree i have (i have over 30 species so that makes about 1 tree video a day) so you can keep up to date there if you care about continuity because i do. I will update you until i die.

 

[Enfield Snapper]

Educate me then MR WONDERFUL

Thread 'The science of air-layering' https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/the-science-of-air-layering.27034/

Here's some reading for you.

 

[leatherback]

I moved my oldest cuttings that were in the shade into the sun to try and get the pots to heat up.

Great way to kill them off