Some were.

The rooting powder I used has been sitting in the basement for years. Could that be the issue?

The cuttings were about a centimeter thickness, pretty long, and they all had pretty big leaves. The medium was about 50-50 perlite and lava rock.

Rooting thick cuttings.. I do not think that would work. As far as I know, in spring you take semi-woody cuttings.
Mine are still green. So far..

I am not sure whether rooting hormone makes the difference. I used Clonex: www.growingbonsai.net/bonsai-propagation-by-cuttings-in-spring/

I will try again, this time much newer cuttings.

I also have seeds going which may sprout soon, and more stratifying.

Planted some Japanese Red Maple cuttings yesterday. Dipped them in rooting hormone and placed them in perlite and sphagnum moss mix. Will post updates in about 3-4 weeks if roots have formed.

Great info. i also took a couple cuttings off of an acer palmatum last night with hopes of new trees. i used a fast draining, kind of a cactus soil, and a rooting hormone powder for a couple decidous cuttings (unknown species) as a expiriment..when i thoguht they were all doomed, i took them out and 2 had tiny roots forming. i had plastic bags on them the first couple weeks but then took them off because the leaves seemed to be turning black. the ones i left in the soil (rooting situation unknown) without bags seem to be holding on..we will see. that fast draining soil and hormone powder is what i used for the acer cuttings. i will update in a few weeks.

elmerposajr wrote:

Planted some Japanese Red Maple cuttings yesterday. Dipped them in rooting hormone and placed them in perlite and sphagnum moss mix. Will post updates in about 3-4 weeks if roots have formed.

The topic that will not die.

The cuttings are sitting in small pots on the ground under the bench, with plastic bags covering them. Well, sometimes. Something, probably squirrels, knocks them over and pulls a bag off every now and then. How crucial is it to keep them covered all the time.

Also, I have been watering the trees on the bench above and a lot of water falls around the pots, some of it going under the bags and (maybe) soaking up into the pots. Would you guess that is enough to keep the soil in the pots wet enough?

Current status: I made ten cuttings, and all died. I made eight more, and so far half of them have died. I planted a couple of dozen seeds and nothing has come up but weeds. I got a box of air layer kits and am waiting on that - I only fell off the ladder once. I put another batch of trees in the refrigerator to stratify and they will come out and try growing in a couple of weeks.
Then, yesterday, standing under the tree I looked down and saw maple seedlings growing up. Now I have five up and in pots and will probably go for some more tomorrow. Sometimes we miss the easy solution. Let Nature do the work.

Ivan wrote:

Let Nature do the work.

Yup, thats what I always say Nature KNows