I'm pretty sure you should bring it in given its fragile state. I think that, ideally, you would've wanted to do the rooting months ago so it would have time to grow and harden off, but its a bit late. Its all confused now.

Yikes!

Our weather has been emulating spring and all sorts of things are budding and blossoming out in lock-step. In addition, the drought is ended (for now) in our neck of the woods. I think everything is confused.~ Oklahoma

I'll steal another one in the spring. :D

Here's an offbeat thought...

It probably won't have any sort of winter hardiness to speak of, since it barely has roots.

I'd let it root as much as possible, and when it drops leaves, keep it in the refrigerator until spring. Make sure the roots stay moist, but not too wet.

That will keep it dormant on a normal schedule without having risk of killing it.

Oh! That would explain why the leaves are dying. Duh.. didn't think about that.

Am I trying to keep it away from freezing temps?

Cuz that's very possible. I even have a cold frame. In fact, I forgot about my cold frame.

Okay, I did some reading and see that light in winter isn't helpful and approximately what temps the roots start dying. I'll put it in the frig before it freezes.

being a proclaimed newbie..

perhaps we ought to start with an ID ...

because i am not aware of hardwood trees rooting ... ???? as in maple.. as compared to say.. a softwood poplar//willow, etc ... but i will defer on this.. because i dont root trees.... but.. that said.. nothing is impossible ...

for winter ..... put the pot on the north side of the house out of all sun ..... and in january.. lay it on its side so water doesnt accumulate in it ... to rot the roots in the cold season ....

your timing is all off ... but for sure.. IT IS NOT A HOUSEPLANT ...

let it go thru it normal phase.. and in spring.. you will either have a live or dead plant ...

trust me on this... as i have lived it for decades... if you try to love it to death.. and try to out think mother nature.. YOU WILL LOSE ....

let it go dormant.. keep it dormant.. and that is the best and simplest thing to try ...

and if you fail.. try this again in spring .. NOT fall ...

care to post a pic for an ID ...

ken

ps: my gut always tells me that weed trees... are usually NOT worth the effort.. because even if you do succeed.. you end up with a weed tree.. in this case .. a prolific seeder.. that spreads itself all over the place... and in the long run.. one would ask themselves.. would i want this prolific seeder in my garden.. where i would end up with thousands of volunteers every seed season??? ... but dont get me wrong.. experimenting.. is the quest for knowledge.. and two thumbs up for that ....

Note to original poster: Ken thinks all maples are weeds ;)

if you try to love it to death.. and try to out think mother nature.. YOU WILL LOSE ....

ha! No doubt about this forum's ability to help me avoid certain mistakes!! I'll try to snap a picture when I go to the grocery store today.

Glad to know it's a "weed". I don't need any more of THOSE in my yard. However, this one would end up as bonsai experiment. You know, where I'll go through the trouble of keeping it a live through the winter and, then, kill it promptly trying my hand at bonsai.

That would be the reasoning for robbing the bank aside from its potential fast-growing properties suitable to newbie bonsai tree killing.

I was thinking along the same lines as Ken. To root a maple cutting in 2 weeks seems astonishing. I'd be pleased if a pelargonium or fuchsia managed that speed.

There are several possibilities:

1. You have achieved an amazing feat.
2. It's a maple but you are mistaken in thinking it's rooted.
3. It's not a maple.

I hope it's 1 but I fear it is more likely 2 or 3. A picture of the cutting and of the roots would be really informative.

florauk

It might not be a Maple. I could be wrong. I'm not expert. Sun will come up in a bit and I will go over and snap a picture. I didn't get finished shopping before sundown yesterday.

About 4 years ago I wanted to start gardening. I looked up the Oklahoma State University Fall planning guide and read through a bunch of information ending up on soil issues including necessary fertilizers.

I couldn't afford a stupid $4 bag of fertilizer. Well, that just sucked but I also knew, in the past, that folks didn't use fertilizer. Wondering how they grew successfully without chemical fertilizers I looked up home-made fertilizer. The long story ended with me going completely organic. The short end of that story leads to the, now, 25 lbs of worms constantly pooping out the 2nd best fertilizer on the plant. A fella is coming by in a few days to pick up some worms. I'm selling them, now.

Among other issues (I kid you not, now.. serious) is the fact I couldn't buy flappin' rooting hormone. It's cheap! Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to see about making my own. Low and behold, there was willow near by in the creek, the source of rooting hormone and potential aspirin. The hormone worked FABULOUS. I even use it on seedlings, now.

When I took the stupid cutting I remembered the city cleared the willow out. By now, I've knowledge of fast-growing tree species in my area. I have tons of "trash" poplar trees outside. (Close your eyes, Ken!) I thought, they grow fast. I wonder if they've the same stuff as willow?

I grabbed a fresh poplar twig, stripped the bark off, broke the twig and placed all in water for 24 hours at room temperature.

There is your science behind the "amazing feat" aside from the weather we're having which is emulating spring at the wrong time of year. We're actually having a "fall" and it's beautiful but wrong for my part of Oklahoma.

Next time you need rooting hormone, go fresh.

Well, that's a long and interesting story ChickenCoupe and I really hope you have managed to root a maple in 2 weeks. It's just that the balance of probability is rather against that having happened - even with additional gibberellins from the poplar. BTW - are we talking about a Japanese maple or one of the larger maple trees? JMs are easier from cuttings but are usually done by softwood cuttings.

For what it's worth I don't use any artificial fertilisers either, although I don't quite see the relevance of that part of your last post to the question of taking cuttings from a maple. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures and having my scepticism shot down.

It's raining. I wanted to get the parent tree but I've bronchitis and would be on foot. The cutting will need to suffice. Here's the leaf.

If the research is correct, this is a soft silver maple. So, you're right about that. Acer saccharinum is a "relatively fast-growing deciduous tree"

I appreciate your inspections. It's no harm if it doesn't make it, but I've just learned bunches. The node isn't as nice before I dug the roots out the first time. I don't want to dig it out again.

The entire cutting

On the picture of the node? That strip that looks like it's coming out of the node is a background shadow.

Since it's fast-growing I think it will be excellent bonsai beginning trials. Looks like I did okay cutting and setting. I'll "rob" the bank trees next spring and get more.

I'll follow the advice and experience keeping it alive over winter and learn!

I'll try to come back and update.