Approach grafting roots

[ianb]

Well this maple has been in development for a few years (due to an accident the right side of the tree is being rebuilt) but the nebari has always been bothering me. I really like it on the right side but it seems to drop off bluntly on the left.

 

[ianb]

Here the first pic shows where I tried to get roots by drilling holes in the trunk and dusting with root hormone, these promptly healed over. Then the seedlings were teased from their pot and grafted. A grafting knife was used to cut a slot in the bark, the seedling is then inserted into the slot and held firmly in place with the pins. The pins are hammered into place to hold the seedlings and stop them from moving. As the trunk heals it should graft to the seedlings.

 

[ianb]

So the job is finished for now, plastic mesh was placed around the new roots and filled with akadama. I'll update this thread with the results.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I'll be looking forward to seeing this. I have trouble with Japanese maples here in Southern Cal. They are almost 100% shade trees. I have one in the ground by my koi pond that surprisingly does well - all the rest get leaf burn badly. At any rate, the grafts look correct. I will be most interested in seeing how quickly the roots develop.

 

[JasonG]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for showing us the way! I think if you fed this like crazy it should be ready to seperate by fall...atleast that is the kind of growth doing this that we have seen here. The key is lots of fert, which I am sure you are more than aware of.

Hope all is well, and thanks again for sharing this! Keep us posted!

Jason

 

[ianb]

I'll be looking forward to seeing this. I have trouble with Japanese maples here in Southern Cal. They are almost 100% shade trees. I have one in the ground by my koi pond that surprisingly does well - all the rest get leaf burn badly. At any rate, the grafts look correct. I will be most interested in seeing how quickly the roots develop.

Hi Nut, leaf burn is not so much a problem here even if we are in the 80-90s we are "lucky" enough to have high humidity, great for the trees not so much for us. Anyway this guy will be staying in light shade for a while until I start to see strong growth from the scions.

Jason, this has a fair bit of organic on it (but it will be getting more in a couple of weeks) and I regularly feed with miracle gro every week. Things are good, how is that baby of yours? Keeping you on your toes?

 

[JasonG]

Hi Ian,

Sounds like you are feeding it very well, lol!! This should take and be on its way to a much better nebari.
The baby is doing very well. 4 months old now and it is so cool to watch the motor skills improve, the laughs, etc...she is a very well fed and happy kid. Best thing that ever happened to me!!! Stay at home dad lasted about 3 weeks before I went and found part time daycare so I could go back to work parttime,lol!!!

Thanks for asking! Jason

 

[Smoke]

Hi Ian,

Looks like you are well on your way to improveing the base of your tree. I have found that when doing grafting of this type, the grrove needs to be fairly deep to get a smooth transition from trunk to roots.

I helped my friend do this to his tree and the scars after the cut never healed and looked worse than before the roots were put on. If done deeply enough at the beginning they heal over at about the same time they are ready to be cut free. Then they look superior.

Can't wait to see the results, Al