Carl_Bergstrom

Hi Cato,

I've layered a couple of dozen Japanese maples over the last few years, with nearly 100% success. The failures have been on certain dissectum cultivars of palmatum and on Acer shirasawanum, and even the dissectums haven't been utter failures - I just don't get a good ring of even roots all around.

Acer palmatum doesn't seem to require any special tricks or need any special caveats. I ring the bark completely, and don't use a wire tournaquet; here in Seattle the roots usually appear within 10 weeks but can take as long as four months.

My only advice would be that if the tree is of tremendous sentimental value, you might want to track down someone who has done this a number of times to help you, mostly for your own piece of mind but also to somewhat improve your chances of success.

Best wishes,
Carl

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