Last fall, I took some cuttings from my Japanese maples and put them in cups of water with willow cuttings. The willow branches are supposed to release a rooting hormone into the water. I left them in the water all winter. Some got a bit moldy or mildewy. Today, I dipped them in rooting hormone powder (RooTone) and placed them in a moist mixture of peat moss and Perlite. I put four or five in a 4-inch pot and closed it in a ziploc bag. I put them in a spot in the basement where the sun won’t shine directly on them from the window but there is ambient light.

Anyway, the cuttings from the basic red Japanese maple from out front are forming buds. No roots, but some buds. The cuttings from the distressed Bloodgood Japanese maple out back are not doing as well. Many of them turned green on the lower end that was submerged, so I have some hope for them, but the tops were dead, and I cut them down a bit.

I don’t know what is killing the Bloodgood maple, but I’m trying to rescue some pieces of it. If those cuttings grow, I’ll plant them in a different location to see if they thrive there. I will also try planting one of the other maples in the Bloodgood’s spot to see if a different variety will work out OK.