Hi Guest this website will give you all the info you need

http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/gardenplants/cuttings_softwood/index.html

I was just going to say you can't unfortunately.

...but further reading says that they can with limited success in June though on a different site to the above.

I didn't think you could either Fractal... do these websites just make up the info as they go along?

I wonder sometimes Mg :-)

Right in future I'll stick to what I've been taught which is you can't :-)

Japanese Maples are almost always propagated by Grafting (for named varieties) or by seed (for the species).

J.D. Vertrees book (which is pretty much the bible on Japanese Maples) dedicates 12 pages to methods of propagation. He discusses various attempts at propagating via cuttings from all around the world, including many that he has tried himself over several decades. He concludes that:

"Many of the cultivars of A. palmatum and A. japonicum root very poorly, if at all. Other cultivars, such as 'Bloodgood' root very well and seem to make strong older plants. Dissectums in general are not readily rooted."

Satisfactory results are possible, he says, using both summer cuttings of semi-hard wood and dormant hardwood cuttings. Summer cuttings of around 15cm need to be placed in a fiercely drained medium (like perlite or sharp sand) with hormone rooting powder, bottom heat of around 23C, semi shade and either misted or fully enclosed in a plastic tent to provide 100% humidity.

Winter cuttings should be gathered in January and given similar treatment except for the first 10 days, when the bottom heat should be 18C to promote callusing (from where the roots will develop.)

So there you go!

So there you go indeed :-)

Thanks Ilex :-)