I have to say that I am excited to do this article, in which I show you my experience in rooting maples, which I have been perfecting over the years. This experience has been through trial and error for a long time and losing many cuttings along the way. I must also say that rooting maples can be very easy, but it can also be very difficult and what works one day the next does not and without knowing why. So, do not be discouraged, and try and observe very well what works best for each one. For this, very strict guidelines must be followed, which we will see little by little and without skipping any steps, as they are all very important. If you are willing to embark on this adventure, I assure you fun and great satisfaction in rooting your cuttings, not only of maple but also of many other plants. Shall we start? ... Let's go To start, the first thing, of course, is to have our propagator, there are many on the market and anyone can help us, I have even had many videos on how to make a DIY propagator, but since this is not the objective of this post, I will not delve into it. Personally over the years I have used these DIY propagators and they work just like the ones you can find on the market, but lately I am using the 40 stream x socket. The next step is to make sure that our propagator is 100% sterile, for this we will proceed to disinfect it, with 50% bleach 50% water for a minimum of 1 day, also when the cloner gives me fungus, cyanobacteria or any other problems, what disinfected with erythromycin for 3 or 4 days. After disinfecting it, rinse it with chlorinated water so that nothing remains, and when it is dry I spray it with pure isopropyl alcohol and we already have our cloner ready for use. I have to say that this is a very important step, as the place where we are going to place our cloner must be completely disinfected, for that I use 20% bleach and 80% water, spraying walls and floor with the mixture. At this point many of you will think that all this is too much for simple cuttings, but I tell you that this is one of the most important steps to succeed, disinfection, most maple cuttings are lost because of a bad disinfection and in the end they end up with fungi and they end up dying. The second step is to prepare the water that is used in the cloner. I use osmosis water, to which I add 1.5 ml of bleach for every 20 liters of water, that is 1.5 ml of bleach for every 5 gallons of water and 0.5 ml of superthrive, and if I don't have I add the same amount of rooting hormones to the water. When the propagator is already working I add 1 ml of bleach every 4 or 5 days to keep the water free of pathogens, if someone has a chlorine meter, the ideal thing is to keep the water with 1 to 2 PPM of chlorine, during the entire time The process lasts, but that with the amounts that I have put it is not necessary and they come very close to that amount of chlorine.
@zfritz fascinating article!! , you should post a few pictures of your maple successes, I for one would love to see them as I'm sure others would.
I have been a few years without cultivating maples and I am just starting again, here I put a couple of photos that I took last year when I was rooting a few for a friend, but soon I will start to put photos as the article progresses, which still He has a lot to comment.
@zfrittz, I will watch this thread with interest on your cloning of maples. So far so good with root production in your photos. Fascinating!!!
The temperature and oxygenation of the water. The temperature of the water must be between 23º and 24º (73º F and 75º F) for this we will place a fish tank heater like this between 25 and 50w is enough And to oxygenate the water we will use a fish tank bubble pump, the more bubbles the better, if our cloner has 40 liters the air pump must be at least 120 liters. The one I use is 400 liters The water of our cloner must be changed every 10 to 14 days.
I think that I'm not missing anything from the cloning team, now let's talk about cuttings. The main thing is to keep the plants from where we are going to take the cuttings, in the best possible state of health, you cannot use cuttings from a plant that is sick or malnourished. For a couple of months before taking our cuttings it must not have been fertilized with nitrogen, only with a little phosphorus and potash, for this I use mono potassium phosphate, but in very little quantity, or any type of fertilizer that does not contain nitrogen And if we do not have this type of fertilizer then without fertilizing, with this the wood of our cuttings hardens a little, which helps to keep them stronger and healthier. The ideal thickness of the cuttings is about 3 mm. and the length about 10 to 15 cm of new shoots, which have the hardened wood, trying to cut them below some shoot. The lower leaves are cut leaving only a couple, and put in a glass of water with a splash of peroxide and 1 cc. rooting hormones for a couple of hours.
The propagator already working Note- Do not think that the previous lit candle is for praying, so that the maples can take root. You will see what it is for, in the next installment of the article.
I continue with this post. After lighting the candle and waiting for the wax to melt a little, we take the cuttings and the part that they had in the water with hormones we dry it with a cloth and we dip it in the wax to plug the cut, this makes it not rot. And it can take root before that happens, if we leave it with nothing 95% of the cuttings rot and do not take root. The wax should also be used in cuttings that we are going to plant in soil, that is, the entire process of cuttings, so far commented, is the same for both hydroponics and to put them in soil.
@zfrittz, that is very interesting. Can I ask why the candle wax does not stop the roots from being able to form?
And finally I dip them in gel hormones again, so that the rooting cut is impregnated, and place them in the propagator. Something that had happened to me is the temperature of the top of the cuttings, ideally 3 or 4 degrees Celsius below that of the water in the propagator, although the rooting process does not need to be accelerated, and the Light should not be very strong, with 3 or 4 60 cm fluorescent tubes. It is more than enough.
Cuttings in the wax part can root and sometimes shed it, but where the roots really come out is above the wax. Look at this cutting, where it has the protuberances where it begins to take root. I have also made cuttings without wax and they have taken root, but others by the cut begin to rot and do not take root. So it is better to plug the cut with wax.
I'm glad you decided to do some cuttings in hydroponics. As I see that it will be the first time, it can get a little complicated and not get the desired results. But I tell you a little secret, which will help the first hydroponic cuttings a lot. About 30 or 40 days before cutting the cuttings, I recommend selecting them. Once selected, we will bundle a chamois and wrap it with insulating tape, by the place where they are going to root, the chamois will keep it moist during those 30 or 40 days with a syringe, this greatly favors rooting. Once you have a little experience with the propagator it will not be necessary. If you have any doubts I make one and put some photos of how it is done.
I ordered my cloner & rooting hormone yesterday. When do you usually make the cuttings? Do you have a picture of the procedure with the chamois? Thank you
Only a few days later the first roots begin to be seen, although I must say that the cuttings that I have planted are not ideal, since they are very fine, and only 1 or 1.5 mm. thick, when they should be at least 3 0 4 mm. and they still don't have the wood well lignified, that's why the stem looks a bit blackened, but despite this they are already taking root, and as they are in the photos. In this state they can already be moved to the pot, with a very light and airy soil, if you wait for the roots to be larger, you run the risk of breaking them when planting in a pot, because these roots are very brittle. Kbguess, cuttings are made when the wood is hardened, ideally in late spring (mid to late June) As soon as I can I will give you some photos of the suede.
Here the process with suede. Now is the time to do it, to take the cuttings on June 15. It should be wet every 3 or 4 days to make the rooting faster, and if it does not get wet we should have it for 30 or 40 days before passing it to the propagator.
Hi @zfrittz, what you are achieving is amazing. I really hope a lot of people are following your thread. I am.
Thanks Acerholic, the problem is that many people try to make cuttings and since they do not take root, they become discouraged, I remember years ago that out of every 100 rooted 2 or 3, but over time one begins to improve the technique until you only lose 2 or 3 out of 100, but that cost me years of trial and error, and now doing practically nothing, it seems that almost all the cuttings are wanting to take root, whatever you put them.
I have all my supplies ready and plan to start my cuttings this weekend. I am trying some with and some without chamois. Will post as I proceed. thanks again