Japanese Maple Clump from Bennie Badgett

markyscott

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Great work Scott, I potted my maple last year. Is it to soon to repot this year and do some root grafting?

Hi Les. Probably someone from your climate zone would be the best to give you advice about that. Michigan and South Texas are really different. Generally people suggest that you wait until early spring, after danger of freezes has passed. Tridents are more forgiving. I will repot those well after buds have broke. I like to repot Japanese maples much earlier.

Scott
 

markyscott

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Time to check the grafts. I've had strong growth and things are looking good. I'm already getting some callousing. When you notice distinct swelling where the branch exits the trunk you can begin to wean the graft from the branch. That process involves scraping the cambium and girdling the branch so the new shoot is forced to exchange more through the graft than the branch. I'll document that later - still too early on this branch. But I'm happy to see the callous forming.

image.jpeg

Let the grafts extend and don't remove too many (or any) leaves on the grafted branches.
 

Paulpash

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Just a side note. Thin shoots (matchstick size) don't need the cambium revealed and it'll still take. Also drilling backwards, ie from exit to entry point, creates a very clean exit hole that doesn't need cleaning up. Another tip is to place some tape on the exit hole to avoid 'blowing out' the cambium as it breaks through.
 

markyscott

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Just a side note. Thin shoots (matchstick size) don't need the cambium revealed and it'll still take. Also drilling backwards, ie from exit to entry point, creates a very clean exit hole that doesn't need cleaning up. Another tip is to place some tape on the exit hole to avoid 'blowing out' the cambium as it breaks through.

Thanks Marie1uk - those are some excellent suggestions. I'll keep those in mind next time. The reason that I've always drilled in the direction of the graft is to avoid "burning" the cambium. My reasoning was that the drill would rub the longest at the entry point whereas only briefly at the exit. I was concerned that the frictional heating might damage the cambium where I wanted the graft to take. Has this not been a problem in your experience?
 

Paulpash

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Thanks Marie1uk - those are some excellent suggestions. I'll keep those in mind next time. The reason that I've always drilled in the direction of the graft is to avoid "burning" the cambium. My reasoning was that the drill would rub the longest at the entry point whereas only briefly at the exit. I was concerned that the frictional heating might damage the cambium where I wanted the graft to take. Has this not been a problem in your experience?

No it's never been a problem. I always use a dowel to mark the spot where I want to drill (to avoid slipping) and start off slow. The drill bit is travelling a lot faster as it exits the trunk. The sharp dowel means that the cambium is already compromised so friction is a moot point.
 

markyscott

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No it's never been a problem. I always use a dowel to mark the spot where I want to drill (to avoid slipping) and start off slow. The drill bit is travelling a lot faster as it exits the trunk. The sharp dowel means that the cambium is already compromised so friction is a moot point.

Thanks - I especially like the points about the dowel and the tape on the exit side of the trunk. Those are great suggestions and I'll definitely keep that in mind for next year.
 

Paulpash

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You're welcome @markyscott. Here's a thread graft I did on a cotoneaster over rock to get a good sacrifice in place for ground growing many seasons ago. The whole top got attacked & killed off by a fungus, leaving just the thread graft as the 'trunk'. You can see the obvious colour difference between the silver roots & darker, younger trunk. It's interesting that even over a decade later the drill hole is still visible on the left thick root - proof that you're a nutter to do a root over rock using Cotoneaster - they are like quince in terms of thickening up. This tree was grown from a seedling collected from the side of my house.

 
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markyscott

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You're welcome @markyscott. Here's a thread graft I did on a cotoneaster over rock to get a good sacrifice in place for ground growing many seasons ago. The whole top got attacked & killed off by a fungus, leaving just the thread graft as the 'trunk'. You can see the obvious colour difference between the silver roots & darker, younger trunk. It's interesting that even over a decade later the drill hole is still visible on the left thick root - proof that you're a nutter to do a root over rock using Cotoneaster - they are like quince in terms of thickening up. This tree was grown from a seedling collected from the side of my house.


Perhaps you're a nutter marie1 (in which case you'll fit right in), but that is a really interesting cotoneaster. Some wild roots! Looks like an octopus the way it grows over that rock. Really cool.
 

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Nice work, good clear pictures of the procedure.

When I do these, I try to avoid pushing the putty into the hole so the graft can callus over all around. Do you worry about this at all?
 

markyscott

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Nice work, good clear pictures of the procedure.

When I do these, I try to avoid pushing the putty into the hole so the graft can callus over all around. Do you worry about this at all?
Hi leatherback. Yes - I try and avoid pushing putty into any gaps. Key thing is just to keep the water out as much as possible while the wound is callousing over.

- S
 
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