scion rooting a "karume" flowering cherry

[MrFancyPlants]

Not strictly a bonsai question although I may do some air-layers down the line, but I am about to plant a grafted "karume" flowering cherry in my yard and was wondering if there were any pitfalls to planting it deep to encourage the scion to root. Given my bonsai training, I hate looking at grafts and was hoping to get this established on it's own roots. I could add some hormone and/or spaghnum and/or scarify above the graft. Am I asking for trouble?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Ha, can't seem to edit original post or thread title, but I meant "Kwanzan" flowering cherry. I wonder if that confused anyone?

 

[_#1_]

Is Google telling the truth? They live as short as 16-25 years?

They'll be dead as soon as they past their ugly stage!

 

[MrFancyPlants]

We had a gorgeous one at our last house that seemed to be trouble free. I have no way of knowing when it was planted, but it lived long enough to become quite stately. Also the trimmed branches made wonderful smelling smoke for the BBQ.

 

[CWTurner]

Rather than planting if deep maybe just mound up a nice substrate around the cut. More control that way and better for the trees existing roots.
CW

ts
CW

 

[garywood]

MFP, sometimes we just gotta go with the flow ;-) Landscape material and bonsai material are (kinda) different. In landscape material we use our macro view and bonsai we use our micro view. Both are ok in their viewing perspective. The big problem with grafted material is, as a consumer, knowing the reason for grafting. Kwanzan is a cultivar so only asexual propagation can qualify it as Kwanzan. That sounds simple but why graft? Is it because of difficulty in rooting or is it simply a method of speeding the market supply scale? Sometimes we know and sometimes we don't so viewing it in proper ;-) perspective might not be as offensive ;-)

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Rather than planting if deep maybe just mound up a nice substrate around the cut. More control that way and better for the trees existing roots.
CW

ts
CW

Thanks CW, I was planning on doing a raised bed of sorts in the planting area, so that is not too far off.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

MFP, sometimes we just gotta go with the flow ;-) Landscape material and bonsai material are (kinda) different. In landscape material we use our macro view and bonsai we use our micro view. Both are ok in their viewing perspective. The big problem with grafted material is, as a consumer, knowing the reason for grafting. Kwanzan is a cultivar so only asexual propagation can qualify it as Kwanzan. That sounds simple but why graft? Is it because of difficulty in rooting or is it simply a method of speeding the market supply scale? Sometimes we know and sometimes we don't so viewing it in proper ;-) perspective might not be as offensive ;-)

Good point, and I don’t know for sure why it was grafted. My guess is that it mainly just to propagate the scion, but they may use a more vigorous root stock so that they can sell them for more, faster. I did a little searching and I can see that they are sometimes available on their own roots, so I may just give it a go. I am curious if anyone knows what sorts of rootstocks are used and why, for this type of flowering cherry.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I wasn’t reading a bit about prunus grafting for commercial fruit and they are often grafted to restrain vigor and promote fruiting. Some other ornamentals are grafted to promote dwarfing characteristics or cold hardiness. The one thing I might have to look out for is maybe a root stock that is less prone to fungal infection.
I don’t know if you can graft to encourage vigor though.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I didn’t end up mounding around the tree rather than planting deep. It was nearly a necessity as I was working over an old maple stump that I chopped down about as deep as I could go. We’ll eventually find out if the scion roots or not.