Acer palmatum Cutting propagation ?

Discussion in 'Maples' started by michelle, May 24, 2004.

  1. ogrodnik

    ogrodnik Member

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    I found two rooted leafs in my research. could someone please tell me more about this ability? are there any literature or scientific articles?
     
  2. Lou midlothian Tx

    Lou midlothian Tx Member

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    you may want to check out Michael Dirr's work. He's the one who came up with Glowing Ember grown via cuttings only.
     
  3. ogrodnik

    ogrodnik Member

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    here are some pictures taken of these "cuttings". as you can see the root system is quite healthy. I was wondering if someone has had such results? Does Michael Dirr mention something about it? I know that there isn't much practical use of such cuttings. they probably will not continue to grow in the following spring.
     

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  4. Maple_Lady

    Maple_Lady Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Hi Ogrodnik,

    Michael Dirr's book is well worth the money if you want to propagate JMs. He explains both cuttings and grafting and has experimented with these methods and he provides a discussion of the results - both good and bad. I am not an expert in rooting cuttings for JMs, but I do believe, as with conifers that some cultivars are easier to root then others. Sam
     
  5. Lou midlothian Tx

    Lou midlothian Tx Member

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    I can't find Dirr's book but I believe if you had used Rootmaker propagation tray (www.rootmaker.com), you would have get much better root system development and growth out of cuttings. Plant Production in Containers II by Carl Whitcomb is another great book that explains everything in details for mix, fertilization and root growth.
     
  6. ogrodnik

    ogrodnik Member

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    the point is that this is not an ordinary cutting. as you can see this is rooted leaf. there are no buds at all.
     
  7. Poetry to Burn

    Poetry to Burn Active Member

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    Ogrodnik,

    Is that research that you are involved with? It looks like those roots are developing from the petiole. That does seem highly unusual. Very different form anything Ive read in Dirr or Whitcomb.

    Do you know if they were dipped?
     
  8. ogrodnik

    ogrodnik Member

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    This is my own research for my master exam at university. I was supposed to do simply research with different Acer palmatum cuttings. I did 450 softwood cuttings. Cuttings were dipped. I was very surprised when I had found these two rooted leafs. They developed roots from the petiole. I would be grateful If someone could recommend me some scientific literature about rooting leafs of acer palmatum.
     
  9. Poetry to Burn

    Poetry to Burn Active Member

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    Wow very interesting. What concentrations did you use and what were the growing conditions and media.

    Is this what is meant by the term petiole explant?
     
  10. ogrodnik

    ogrodnik Member

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    I'm not fluent in scientific English so this is a bit difficult to explain :) It was not in vitro. they were just an ordinary softwood cuttings. The root hormone was the IBA. I don't use multipots. rooting takes place in polyethylene tunnel in old fashion cold frames. I use peat with sand (proportion 1:1). the success rate was about 50% for cuttings without hormones, and 98% for the best combination with hormones.
     
  11. Lou midlothian Tx

    Lou midlothian Tx Member

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    I always thought roots came from petiole after you take leaves off.

    98% with rooting hormone? That's a nice one.... I can't say the same for mine grown from seeds!
     
  12. xman

    xman Active Member

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    ogrodnik,

    What concentration of IBA were you using? The ones sold in stores as rooting gels or harmones are very very diluted form.

    xman
     
  13. ogrodnik

    ogrodnik Member

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    actually I use standard concentration of hormones. It is a simple IBA easily to buy here in Poland. So I think hormones and their concentration are not that important as other conditions. I'm not quite sure but i think I might know what to do to receive better results. This is what I'm going to check next summer.
     
  14. failidh

    failidh Member

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    A friend has a small red maple that I don't care for much, but it keeps sending out branches- green with a smallish green leaf that appears to be exactly what I've been looking for. Perfect! Now what?

    She tells me that these shoots are from the root that the red one has been grafted on, and, as she simply cuts them off, I am welcome to as many as I'd like. So... I've been researching propagation methods.

    I'm willing to try both cuttings and grafting, but something I have yet to find addressed in any of the literature- what does one graft onto? Where does one obtain it? Is it expensive? Should a graft be buried or stand above the surface? What is a 'witch's broom'?

    Anyone out there?
     
  15. kaspian

    kaspian Active Member 10 Years

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    Re: Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) Cutting propagation

    Now on the face of it, one aspect of this statement would seem logically absurd: "A number of species [my emphasis] ... including Acer palmatum, do not form vigorous trees on their own roots."

    Has Nature been doing it wrong for all these millions of years, then? Because as far as I know, every tree growing naturally in the wild -- species and naturally occurring hybrids alike -- is growing on its own roots. It's all, like, part of the plan. At least that's what they taught us in middle-school biology.

    This certainly applies to A. palmatum, which somehow managed to survive pretty well for quite a few millennia before North American nurserymen got their hands on it and decided that grafting was the way to go. Certainly grafting is the way to go for mass-propagation purposes -- higher success rate, more vigorous growth in the early years, et cetera. But it's not the way Nature does it, and I see no particular reason to doubt Nature's wisdom in this or other regards.

    No doubt that are many delicate cultivars that just wouldn't make it in the wild and need the crutch of a "juiced" rootstock simply to survive. I try to steer away from that kind of thing in any case. I've only got two varieties growing on their own roots -- two apiece of 'Autumn Moon' and 'Butterfly' -- and they're still pretty young. But they seem to be about as vigorous, even at this stage, as their grafted clonal kin, and I find it satisfying, somehow, to know that each one is a single, unified organism, not two separate organisms fused together.

    I've heard there are cutting-grown 'Orange Dreams' and a few other types out there. This thread may have inspired me to go hunting for them.
     
  16. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    I can confirm that 'Orange Dream' performs well as a cutting grown plant on its own roots. It is quite common to see it sold as small plants this way in garden centre chains and some supermarkets in the UK. I picked one up at least seven or eight years ago now and it has been very healthy with good growth rate, no dieback, no disease issues.

    'Deshojo' is also occasionally seen here as cutting grown plants and maybe one or two other interesting types, but usually it is 'Orange Dream', a generic green palmatum and a form of 'Atropurpureum'. The ones I see are usually imported from Holland.
     
  17. John Hosie

    John Hosie Active Member

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    Michael Dirr's book can be found on www.half.com - an eBay company. I searched for Michael Dirr and found several. About a year ago I picked up the Second Edition, copyright 2006. He now has a new version - copyright 2009.

    The full title is:

    The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture

    I have been through it many times, but still have not been terribly successful propagating anything but Euonymous and succulents. I have a current batch in that I'm trying to root now, though, which includes dogwoods, some curly willow, conifers and JM's. After four weeks, it looks like about 10% of the JMs may still be alive, but I'm waiting for 3 months before cracking the shell of the growth chamber so I minimize contamination. For this batch, tried four different rooting compounds - including Root-tone, Clonex purple, Clonex Red, which advertizes that it can start even the toughest woody plant cuttings, and Olivias gel. Something I did notice is that the Clonex seems to lose its gelling a bit after opening - not that it ever had any serious gelling to start with.

    Has anyone tried tissue culture?
     
  18. karl outram

    karl outram Member

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    i have tried many forms of propogation for the acers, the only way i have found that gives me any success at all, and to be honestm its near 90% success rate is (ariel layering) i start the baggin-up procedure in march, please bear in mind i live in kent uk, so my weather is bizzare to say the least. by the end of the season (being september end) i will have a bag of roots that lets me cut the chosen piece off and get it into a pot with the new roots very deep in the potting soil, and this will then be kept high off the gorund in a greenhouse untill the following spring,(march-april)
    i am not a gerdening expert in any way shape or form, neither do i have any vested interest in posting this for the benefit of other maple owners.

    and i sincerely hope this helps as many people as it has helped me, the process was found by accindent, but by golly it works !

    karl outram
     
  19. DR OXIDE

    DR OXIDE New Member

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    I have lost every bloodgood I have planted here in KS. Six in total. The root stock came back on one as a plain Acer palmatum that has been drought resistance and heathy. Three years later it now is a big bush. The drought we had since it came back has claimed two 12 foot peach trees and an 18' apple tree. But the Acer palmatum is growing like a weed? It looks more like a big bush than a tree. Im going to take cuttings from it for sure! I have a rose bush that was from a cutting that has been in our family for more than hundred years and it still going strong. But roses are easy.
     
  20. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    Cuttings:

    I've tried several periods for cuttings:

    Late winter (mid-february) was my first attemp. I took branch tips from the plain species, 2-5 mm thick at the base and about 15 to 25 cm long, and had about 25% success. But the following years, the rate of success was close to nil.

    Summer (from late June to late July): Very good overall rate of success on the year's growth after removing the soft tip and leaving two to five leaves.
    Best ones: plain Acer p., Acer buergerianum (almost impossible to fail one), Acer p. 'Orange Dream', 'Katsura', 'Little Princess'.
    Almost impossible: a lot of grafted cultivars, esp. dissectum cultivars, though a friend of mine had a very good rate of success using a misting system under an old aquarium.

    Air-layering:

    From March to the beginning of July
    , the best method for me because it gives evenly displayed roots at the base, ideal for bonsai.

    My collection of Acer is not important enough for me to give more detailed statistics, and I'm chiefly interested in propagating Acer that are the most suitable for bonsai, so I haven't tried the ones with bigger leaves such as 'Osakazuki' or 'Tsuma Gaki', and my "cutting" stock" is limited also because I don't want to disfigure all my trees for the purpose of reserchi, even if it's often very tempting...

    I use sphagnum moss around the removed bark ring, with sand, some peat, and a pinch of active carbon too. I apply rooting hormon powder on the part wher cambium was carefully scrapped off, the one which is ubiquitous in garden centres in France: Chrysotop vert, or organic hormon (liquid, to be diluted), or even "willow water".
     

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