Hello all, this is my first post and enjoying the comments and gaining knowledge. I mainly use Ficus for my material and wanting to diversify to something deciduous I have been looking to Maples. Several years ago (7) I planted some small 6" tridents in my yard. I decided this year to take some larger size cuttings from the trees where it looked to me to have an interesting appearance. I have no experience with this but nature being what it is accomplished budding on about 35 of 38 pieces. Looking for some guidance here while looking to the books, web etc. I examined a sample cutting and they are leafing out but no rooting yet (calloused) and still on mats at 70 degs (3 weeks)

 Any comments would be great. Thanks Mark








93. My intention is to move them to my unheated greenhouse till its warm enough outside then plant them in individual 8" grow pots with perilite.

thanks for responding. how long to wait? i was thinking let the roots extend then gently lift into small pots this spring and fertilize this summer.

Trees are all leafed out and roots are spreading

I second that emotion.  I'd fertilize them with some liquid organics or half strength inorganics once leaves fully harden.  Air on the side of "looks too weak" when mixing something up.

No.

My short and terse answer is related to the lack of good and reliable literature that is bonsai specific. There are a few pieces that discuss the concept. Kyosuke Gun has a good book on growing tridents "Kaede" that gives a very nice pictorial view, but it is in Japanese with lots of great cartoons.

Michael Dirr's books on propagation are essentially the Bible for that sort of thing.  It is NOT specific to bonsai, nor does he specialize in wrist-size cuttings.  Still, it might be helpful.

Take a look at Bonsai Today issue #8. starts on page 23 but skip to page 31 Trunk cutting example # 2. Looks like he had roots on large Trident cuttings about like yours in a couple of months. He goes through the whole process with pictures of the process. The next section of the same article is also very interesting on page 35 Cuttings for multiple trunk bonsai. 
Let me know if you can't get ahold of this issue.