Propagation of bigtooth maple by layering

Abstract

Bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum Nutt. (syn. Acer saccharum Marsh. ssp. grandidentatum (Nutt.) Desmarais) [Aceraceae]) is native throughout much of the interior western US and has potential for use in water-conserving landscapes. Currently bigtooth maple is available in the trade primarily as budded accessions on seedling rootstocks or as seedling material. Elucidation of alternative propagation methods may facilitate increased production and utilization of this tree for landscape use. Given that it reproduces naturally by layering, a series of mound layer propagation studies on selected accessions were conducted from 2011 to 2019 to determine its efficacy. Rooting efficacy varied with year, accession, girdling, and hormone treatment (4000 ppm indole-3-butyric acid [IBA] and 2000 ppm 1-napthaleneacetic acid [NAA] as Dip’N Grow in 25% ethanol). Overall, results indicate that layering can be an effective means of vegetatively propagating accessions selected from mature bigtooth maple trees. Practitioners should note that over time stock plants became infected with root rot, so it should be guarded against.