Suitable root stock.

Silentrunning

Chumono
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I am wondering if Silver and Red Maples make good root stock for the various Chinese Maples that are so popular in bonsai. I have quite a few of these native Maples on my property and some have very nice bases. Am I right in assuming that using native root stock would make a hardier tree for this climate?
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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You can use them as rootstock, but the long term viability of any grafts will be questionable at best. Ultimately, you want to use stock genetically similar to your scion... That’s why Acer palmatum seedlings are the rootstock of choice for grafting maples indigenous to Asia.
 

Silentrunning

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Dav4, you use the phrase “long term” - does that mean you could see success and then have the graft rejected in future years?
 

papymandarin

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and provided the graft is even possible, the two plants have to be compatible, it's not because they are both of the same genus Acer that you can take it for granted. Compatibility is not an obvious thing, in some cases graft are possible between plants of different genus while some plants of the same genus are not compatible (comes from the fact that the classification of species is not a "quantitative" reflection of their genetic closeness/physiological similarities)
 
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