Too soon to layer?

[Beau]

Hey all,
I have a Japanese maple very much in the development stage that roughly 2 months ago i repotted from a large 14" flower pot to a shallower nursery tray shown in the picture, i removed a reasonable amount of roots in the repot and majority of the branches because it was just too big. With spring here it has bounced back with plenty of new foliage and seems healthy.
Would anybody have any advice as to whether it would be okay or not to air layer reasonably low in a couple of weeks when the leaves have hardened off or would this season be off the table?
Cheers Beau

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[Watto]

I'm not very brave so I would leave it until next year, however others may have a different opinion. Good luck with it.

[shibui]

Good top growth for a few weeks should indicate good new roots below so I would be happy to try a layer later this spring. There is always the chance that something may go wrong but that could occur next year too.
My question is why would you want to layer that trunk off? It appears to have little taper or interest. What is the point of propagating more trees with marginal bonsai potential? At the very least look for a place that has the possibility for a future trunk chop at a fork that may give attractive bends and better taper. Maybe you can see something that I'm missing?

[Beau]

Thanks for the reply guys.
I bought this tree from the discount section at my local nursery, it was there because it had considerable die back on one half of the upper trunk from where it had fallen over and snapped the leader.
I thought it was interesting and thought I could try and do something with it, however the reality of number of trees im accumulating vs space has urged me to layer the tree at the height that I'd like the main tree to be and give the rest to friend who has also taken an interest in the scarring and is also stuck in lock down with no new trees to play with.

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Sorry for the shoddy photos I just ran out quickly but it kinda shows what I'm trying to explain

[shibui]

The layer you proposed does not leave much live foliage to feed the roots. The tree has recently been heavily root pruned so may have few roots to sustain it yet so that could be a risk to the survival of the bottom part (though I think it is slight). Given you already have too many trees and the material is not particularly valuable it may be worth the slight risk.
The top part is marginal value as bonsai but even marginal material is good for beginners to learn with. Personally, I would just do a trunk chop and throw away the top but if you would like then experience and your friend would like marginal material and you are happy to take the slight risk then go ahead.
Delaying your layer for a few weeks will allow the tree to establish better roots and probably won't reduce the chance of the layer working.
There are no guarantees in what we do in bonsai. You need to make the final call.