I wanted to do this the last few years. I have the gear now so indulge me if you will…
Few years back I planted a few Japanese Maple bloodred types. Myself and neighbors love the color it puts out. They have all expressed interest if I were to clone it. The idea is to line the street with glowing red trees down both sides… on our short 5 house dead end street.
Anyone done it? @Pigeonman you come to mind when thinking who may have…
I have an aerocloner, tray and dome, and iv googled it seeing some stick a cutting in a container… I’m leaning towards riot plugs in tray on front porch…
Thinking during when new leaves start to show, or should I wait a few weeks till she’s filled out?
Personally I think I’d take cuttings and plant them directly into loose airy soil in a container, probably a whole bunch reckoning some might not take. A search online suggests that you should take cuttings in late spring/early summer.
I’ve never actually done it, but I think the chances of success are higher because it stays attached to the original tree until it grows roots. Takes a lot longer for that to happen with a tree.
Some part of me wonders how easy it is to pull-off… as opposed to straight up rooting shoots or grafting. I reckon there’s a reason apple orchard people do grafting (K.I.S.S.?). Admittedly it could be as simple as “When you’re collecting shoots, you don’t have the time to wait around for layering to work”
Air layer! - it’s not super fast but will allow you to start much bigger clones-- you can start with 2" dia. “stems”(branches) & have small trees.
My biggest challenge with the few I’ve tried has been getting a good exterior “wrap” or containment for the media. They have to stay hydrated & breathe too. These projects were back in hot/dry CA…whereas now in Hawaii I’ll throw junk plants on the lawn & find them rooting a week later after being run over by the mower. WTF. My cannabis clones aren’t that successful.
Try some of this shit.It will root wood pecker lips together.For woody and moderate to root cuttings.I dumped my clonex because of this stuff I’m sure it would root a tree make sure it’s #8 they have a couple different formulas that’s the good shit
I did ask a friend though that just got back to me with this:
Make sure the branch you choose “snaps”, no snap = no cloning. The twig’s length should be within 4 to 6 inches.
Soil mix is peat moss and part perlite in a ratio of 1:1.
Prepping soil: water the soil and let it drain out of the pot completely. It will help in setting the soil firm and maintaining its texture. Then, using a hand shovel, mix the soil and create air holes.
Place the twig’s lower end into the soil and press down it firmly, should stay upright without any support.
Place in mini greenhouse or cover with a clear cup.
Done this many times in college. You wanna take cutting in the spring/summer from green wood. Much easier to root green wood vs last years growth. Imo it’s easier to just root them straight into soil 3x3 or 4x4. Once they root it’s the same as anything else. With plants like this probably looking at a 50% success rate so plan for that and also plan for some of those cutting to just not grow with proper shape. Good luck.
Well I’ve tried for 3 years now, trying to root a tart cherry tree branch. FAIL!
I used these small air layering pods. I think they are to small. I’m going to try again this year.
Fig’s will root if you ask them.
I’m not sure if most trees can be ‘cloned’ the way we are used to.
Working on farms when I was young, we used to clone apple trees by grafting branches onto root-stock.
Not sure what type of plants/trees the root-stock came from. But it was easy and very successful.
Take a cutting from the green wood, hard to tell on the first photo but that looks like old growth. You need to clone from the new growth. I can see the green shoots, ie green wood, that’s what you want. Add cloning gel if you want, into soil, keep soil moist. I would do 5 cuts if you want 1 tree.
These projects were back in hot/dry CA…whereas now in Hawaii I’ll throw junk plants on the lawn & find them rooting a week later after being run over by the mower. WTF. My cannabis clones aren’t that successful. 
