Propagation Techniques For Japanese Maple Trees

Japanese maples or Acer Palmatum are usually available in cheaper rates. But this is not true for all the varieties. Some of the rare and most prestigious are not much easy to buy if you are looking for an affordable match. Grafting is an ancient and trusted method to propagate the plant, but in the case of these maples trees, it is not an easy job to say the least. As grafting involves cutting of some part of the plant, and in the case of these trees it becomes hardly possible, for this reason another alternative method is chosen.

The commercially popular verities are grafted onto the seedling of Japanese maples. But as the seedling takes a lot of time to fully develop, which consequently means the whole process will take unnecessarily a longer time to complete as well. Moreover this situation becomes worst and helpless in the case of notoriously slow growing varieties. The type of grafting differs on the requirements and sometime decision between low and high grafting depends solely on the desired outcome of the whole process.

Grafting is not the only method to propagate the Japanese maples and many of the verities do not even require this process. They can be easily grown from the seeds. Take the example of Atropurpureum, this incredible tree is grown from seeds without any great hassle. But seed stratification is a must to even begin. Seed stratification is not an unfamiliar term for anyone into the business of plants for a while. It is an essential part that must be accomplished before sowing the seeds. An un-stratified seed is not a good idea to start with as it can take couple of years to even become ready for sowing.

The major part of stratification involves chilling and soaking. This imitates the conditions that a seed encounters in the soil naturally. The firm seed coat then becomes soft and subsequently it can easily grow in quick time. So far two methods are discussed to propagate the Japanese maples, as these are the most celebrated ones. But a handful of verities allow a third easy way i.e. to be rooted from cutting. This is rarely done as most of the verities do not allow such luxury. But if you have purchased such a variety that allows it to happen, then it is so far the easiest and most convenient way out of this problem.

Japanese maples do look delicate from their blazing exterior, but you will figure out over the time that it is a tough tree. If the climate is stunningly cold then it has the capacity that it can be grown in the pots inside the buildings. The part of the plant which is above the ground can easily survive even the mercury is down below zero, but this is not exactly true about the root system. You have to maintain with the temperature of soil above 15 degrees Fahrenheit. This is not a difficult task as it might sound because many conventional methods and tools are available to achieve this goal. A protective covering around the soil can easily achieve safety for the soil of lovely maple tree.

If the soil is verified as fertile, then you don’t need to add any extra fertilizer for the Japanese maples. But if this is not the case, then over the time some amount of fertilizer can do wonder for the tree’s growth. Fertile planes of land usually lose their fertility due to heavy rainfall, so if the geography of your land is of this type then you may need to take care of this aspect.