AndyJ
Shohin
Hey folks.
I wonder if you can help me with something? I’ve got a Deshojo shohin sized maple that I’ve had for about 5 years. After it’s first repot (2016) I found one side had a really poor nebari - no roots on it at all - so I decided I would get some JM seedlings and run through some thread grafts and get some roots placed on the blank side. So, roll round to 2017, and seedlings in hand, I drilled three holes through the trunk, pushed through the seedlings, wired the graft whips up so they pointed to the sun, and potted up. The whips leafed out and grew a couple pairs of leaves and then died.
So, in 2018, I repeated the process again - and the same thing happened. The whips all died.
I skipped last year as I wanted to leave the tree to have a rest from repots and I just let it grow. And then this year (2020), I thought I’d have another go. And the same thing happened - all three whips died.
What am I doing wrong? Since 2017, each time I’ve tried I’ve had to drill my holes slightly bigger - I want to try these grafts again but if I don’t get it right in 2021, I’m going to end up with three big holes at the root line and it’s going to ruin the tree.
This is what I do.
- Slip the graft through the hole,
- Push a tiny piece of stick underneath to make sure the whip is in contact with the parent (making sure not to crush the whip)
- Wire the whip upwards so it faces the sun
- Put some putty around the wound.
- Finally, I cover the whole surface with chopped sphagnum moss. That’s it!
But they all died again!
I thought my technique was ok as I’ve thread grafted two new branches into this tree and they’ve taken. I’m wondering now if I need to plant the parent and the whips in a bigger pot so I can get them planted deeper - could that be it?
Am I missing something? I thought this process would be fairly straightforward!
Thanks all.
Andy
I wonder if you can help me with something? I’ve got a Deshojo shohin sized maple that I’ve had for about 5 years. After it’s first repot (2016) I found one side had a really poor nebari - no roots on it at all - so I decided I would get some JM seedlings and run through some thread grafts and get some roots placed on the blank side. So, roll round to 2017, and seedlings in hand, I drilled three holes through the trunk, pushed through the seedlings, wired the graft whips up so they pointed to the sun, and potted up. The whips leafed out and grew a couple pairs of leaves and then died.
So, in 2018, I repeated the process again - and the same thing happened. The whips all died.
I skipped last year as I wanted to leave the tree to have a rest from repots and I just let it grow. And then this year (2020), I thought I’d have another go. And the same thing happened - all three whips died.
What am I doing wrong? Since 2017, each time I’ve tried I’ve had to drill my holes slightly bigger - I want to try these grafts again but if I don’t get it right in 2021, I’m going to end up with three big holes at the root line and it’s going to ruin the tree.
This is what I do.
- Slip the graft through the hole,
- Push a tiny piece of stick underneath to make sure the whip is in contact with the parent (making sure not to crush the whip)
- Wire the whip upwards so it faces the sun
- Put some putty around the wound.
- Finally, I cover the whole surface with chopped sphagnum moss. That’s it!
But they all died again!
I thought my technique was ok as I’ve thread grafted two new branches into this tree and they’ve taken. I’m wondering now if I need to plant the parent and the whips in a bigger pot so I can get them planted deeper - could that be it?
Am I missing something? I thought this process would be fairly straightforward!
Thanks all.
Andy