Japanese maple with really short roots. Will it survive?

[Bizzybea1810]

This japanese maple was given to me like this and i want to know if it’s salvageable.

 

[Gabler]

Put it in good bonsai soil, and it might. Shade and humidity are your friend.

It’ll probably die, though. In my experience, Japanese maples are not as forgiving as northern red maples.

There’s some debate about whether chopping the foliage off will help. Advocates say you should balance the foliage mass with the root mass. Critics say the tree will do that on it’s own by dying back and recycling energy from leaves in a way that it couldn’t if you just chopped them off. Like all things, it depends heavily on the individual tree, and it’s not easy to predict how any particular tree will respond.

I’d probably cut off most of the foliage and try to root all the young twigs as cuttings.

 

[Bizzybea1810]

Thank you i will try my best and see what happens!

 

[discusmike]

Shade and mist until it gets some feeder roots, why is it bare rooted?

 

[Bizzybea1810]

It was practically attached to a dogwood tree and this was as far as he could cut the root and just gave it to me like this

 

[sorce]

Cut some leaves off!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[bwaynef]

Odds are against it. Odds are nil if it's not completely immobilized in the pot though. You'll likely have to tie it to the pot with string unless you "engineer" something from the bottom to tie to, ...or plant it really deep. Japanese maples are strong trees given the right conditions.

 

[Bizzybea1810]

Cut some leaves off!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

I was thinking of doing that to put less stress on the roots(not that their not terribly stressed at the moment lol)

 

[Bizzybea1810]

Put it in good bonsai soil, and it might. Shade and humidity are your friend.

It’ll probably die, though. In my experience, Japanese maples are not as forgiving as northern red maples.

There’s some debate about whether chopping the foliage off will help. Advocates say you should balance the foliage mass with the root mass. Critics say the tree will do that on it’s own by dying back and recycling energy from leaves in a way that it couldn’t if you just chopped them off. Like all things, it depends heavily on the individual tree, and it’s not easy to predict how any particular tree will respond.

I’d probably cut off most of the foliage and try to root all the young twigs as cuttings.

Should i use any sort fertilizer or not yet?

 

[Bizzybea1810]

Should i use any sort fertilizer or not yet?

Or root stimulator?

 

[sorce]

Reckon a garden would be the best shot.alive soil.

Sorce

 

[Shibui]

Or root stimulator?

No need for fertilizer for a few weeks until the roots recover.
I have never seen any benefit from any of the popular root stimulator products but they probably don't do any harm.

I've done trial transplants of trident and Japanese maples with extensive root pruning in late spring and summer. Survival is surprisingly good though not quite 100%. The leaves usually turn brown and fall off so I'd defoliate to reduce that stress. New shoots can take 3-6 weeks to start growing.

 

[GGB]

If it were mine I would chop it way back, if only to prevent it from wiggling in the wind. It 100% won't survive if it's being knocked around. If not, you need to make sure it's super secure in the pot somehow

 

[penumbra]

No way my friend. A lot of hopefuls here but its not going to make it.

 

[Katie0317]

If it were mine I would chop it way back, if only to prevent it from wiggling in the wind. It 100% won't survive if it's being knocked around. If not, you need to make sure it's super secure in the pot somehow

I know the tree is supposed to be extremely well tied down and I learned how to do it correctly but I never asked why. What happens to the roots and the trunk if they're not well secured?

 

[GGB]

the new roots that emerge are extremely fragile and they get broken off when the tree suddenly moves. I always thought this was a minor detail that didn't need to be fussed over but I had a tree nearly die for this reason. In fact, I attribute my success rate when collecting to my obsession with anchoring trees in pots well. Unfortunately the tree you showed above can't be secured in a simple traditional way, you'll need to come up with some kind of rig to hold it steady.

 

[GGB]

To be completely honest, there are so few roots on that tree, I would personally treat it like a cutting. Again, I'd chop it down to somewhere between 6-9" and put it in a really small pot with high humidity. No need to secure it then. You didn't ask what I'd do to be fair. You asked us if we thought it could survive. And my super cocky answer is, I believe that I could keep it alive, doing what I mentioned above. As it's pictured there is no way a root system with zero feeder roots is going to support any of that foliage up top. Even without the foliage, any winds or heat will be pulling moisture out of all of that soft and semi-softwood from the spring.

 

[Katie0317]

the new roots that emerge are extremely fragile and they get broken off when the tree suddenly moves. I always thought this was a minor detail that didn't need to be fussed over but I had a tree nearly die for this reason. In fact, I attribute my success rate when collecting to my obsession with anchoring trees in pots well. Unfortunately the tree you showed above can't be secured in a simple traditional way, you'll need to come up with some kind of rig to hold it steady.

Thanks for adding the detail about new roots. I really hadn't thought of repotting and the immediate aftermath on the newest roots.