how to graft a Japanese maple tree part #4 

thanks! I am glad you found these helpful and informative, and I will let my dog know you liked that video too.

thanks for the comment!

I only cut up to the cambium layer. I mist the graft to ensure nothing dries out during the healing process. There are several approaches to grafting. This is the method we used for almost 20 years. Our success rate was always fairly good. We use a 6" long grafting rubber strip with a .85mm guage I believe (most common).

@@maplesandmusic Thank you for the reply

I remove all of the lower leaves except for the top foilage. This allows the moisture to continue to flow up the root stock. You can check out my other two related video's pertaining to grafting which cover that question and many more

@@maplesandmusic thank you...i saw the video but missed this part somehow🙂🙃

If you have "Remy cloth", just lay that over the top of the trees and let it hang down both sides. That will retain the moisture fairly well for longer periods. Personally I would not recommend poly as it will not allow any air to pass thru for the plants to breathe and could create quite a heat dome which would be catastrophic on the young grafts.

@@maplesandmusic ok, got it. Thanks. I'm also wondering if I could get misters on my automatic sprinkler timer. Are you using any fungicide in your misting?

@@ryanmack9097 In all our years of growing / grafting Japanese maples we never applied a single application of any herbicide or fungicide. Daily inspection of our plants was all that was required to stay on top of things. We never grew more then we could manage and always had plenty of space and airflow for all the plants to eliminate any fungicide use.

Thanks! Glad you liked the video. The grafting was done at the end of July, I posted the video the day after grafting. Each year summer grafting can vary as far as start times. With our very long hot and dry summer grafting was done approx 10 days earlier then normal. The scion wood becomes way to "woody" and course when trying to cut into the cambium layer later into the summer months.

I graft once the second flush of growth has matured to a size that makes the scion wood suitable to graft. Generally the time frame is last week of July until first or second week of August. all depends on the weather of course

@@maplesandmusic Otto, one more question: after grafting in July, will new leaves from buds appear this year or not until next (remember, newbie here...) 😁

@@JK-qz1sw Quite often yes, there will be new leaves coming out in the fall. Otherwise you will just see the bud set has swollen and stays closed.

Generally you need a seedling from any Japanese maple in the "acer palmutum" family. As long as the variety you want to graft is also in the " acer palmatum" family then you would be good to go. So to answer your question, Yes you can!

Hi Naeem, We always have done summer grafting which is usually the end of July / early August. Many growers do winter grafting which would take place in mid January thru febuary ( You would need a heated environment so nothing can freeze of course. The most common root stock for grating is the acer palmatum root stock and almost all japanese maple varieties are suitable for this root stock. We have grafted two varieties onto the same palmatum root stock in the past just for the visual effect.

@@tadaskabliukas2797 No, the root stock is not suitable for Platanoid maples. Platanoid maples propigate easily from seed

Perhaps you could upload a picture to clarify the graft confusion? and then I can give you a more accurate response. And yes always keep the graft above the soil line. Make sure you have a location with well drained soil as they do not like wet feet! You can always elevate your planting location with a mix of soil and bark mulch before you plant as well. Also depending on the variety, plant in a location that suits it best, ie. full sun, minimal sun, no sun, etc

So if your getting two different types. All that means is the doner plant or the ones with roots are shooting it's suckers out as well as the suckers from the grafted top. One will overtake the other so remember to trim them back if you get any other colored shoot coming out..

Hi JK We graft in August as that way we do not have to have the green house heated in January. A good heating system would be required to keep the green house warm and protect the new grafts from any type of frost. By grafting in Early August the scion wood is harden off nicely in most varieties and by January the graft has sealed off nicely which will prevent potential frost damage and also gives the young graft head start on the winter grafts. Our operation was a small scale so we always had and made the time to do all of our grafting in August. And always a very good success rate which would be similar to winter grafting. Otto

@@maplesandmusic Otto, thank you. Keep posting, we love it 👌

@@JK-qz1sw thanks!

Hi Michael, I have been grafting the way I was taught many years ago as well. Always have had pretty good success rate ( 55% - 70%). The reason some grafters cut both sides is because they want as fine an edge as possible to insert into the root stock. But that can easily be done with my approach by using a quick and firm cut on one side and then less damage can occur as well to the scion wood. Regular watering is important prior to grafting as you want that moisture to keep feeding up the root stock once the graft is inserted. * Also I think I can say with 100% accuracy, if you choose not to water your grafts for 4 weeks after grafting, you will have a 0% success rate plus al of your root stock would be completely dead. Even missing a day is critical. Misting must be done continuously as well ( as I have explained in the video)

@@maplesandmusic Thanks, Otto!

It really depends on the type of graft and time of year you do the graft. If you cut the top of the stock, then there is likely to be too much water on the cut, thus leads to the failure of gtafts. However, let the pots dry out could damage some of the roots and therefore less water supply when you graft.

When our nursery was in operation (1993 - 2008) we would purchase our root stock locally from a grower close to our home. in Chilliwack BC. (Canada) We were very fortunate that their nursery specialized in japanese maple root stock and only 3 km from our nursery. There are many growers in the US as well, particularly in Oregon that specialize in root stock propagation.

We do not remove the rubber band until the following spring. So that would be approx. 9 - 10 months that we leave it on

Hi Your grafted trees would have originally been grafted on the side. Over the years as they mature the graft grows into the main stem and is part of the tree. You could watch my video series on grafting as well. Just click on the playlists of my channel!

Hi, Just so you know, we only do summer grafting as that is our preferred method and that is what my video explains. Winter grafting is always done in January thru mid February. You need to have and keep a constant heat of approx 70 F. (20 celcius) You should see signs of the bud set expanding within 2-3 weeks of your graft. Then it should start opening up by the end of March in your heated greenhouse environment. Also proper moisture level on the graft is extremely important as you don't want it drying out and definitely do not want it staying too cold. There is plenty of good info online regarding winter grafting, hopefully that will help you out.

@@maplesandmusic thank you

Hi Jim, there are nurseries that grow root stock for grafting. Usually orders of several 100 apply though. And yes the palmatum root stock can be grown from seed. Will take a few years before they are ready to be grafted as mentioned in the video.

We do all our grafting in mid summer. Many growers also graft in January in a heated greenhouse. We prefer the summer months as the weather is much nicer and our success rate has always been very good.

Muchas gracias por responder !!!

@@alejandromikitiuk6008 your welcome!

Hi there, I do explain in the video that I use the acer palmatum root stock!

the root stock would be approx 4 years old and they have been in the 3" pots now for just over a year

@@maplesandmusic Wow, 4 years. I feel quite privileged. Here in NZ I take 1 year old hardwood cuttings in winter up to 6'5" long that are probably 5x the diameter or more of your potted rootstock. Our stockbeds are a clone that has been selected over several generations. We then callous them in hotbeds and plant directly into field rows late winter/early spring. We also collect scion from saleable plants, and stockbeds, in winter and store in a chiller. Then we graft in late spring, early summer, and by the time they've shut down again for winter there will be 3-6' of growth on the scion, depending on variety, and 1inch diameter roots with feeder root tendrils up to 6' long. No wonder our trees are a desirable export to the US!

@@natopotato2711 Not sure what you are referring to?? Japanese maples are slow growing trees. We have very fast growing trees here in Canada as well, but most gardeners prefer a small slow growing tree that is manageable in a small garden application. The fast growing trees can be admired in our endless forrest landscapes thru out the country.

@@maplesandmusic Yeah sorry mate, I guess it's a pretty big topic/process and I was trying to be succinct. Here in our climate Acer palmatum grows pretty quickly, but is still limited in size and shape by it's variety. However, because we can produce a high quantity of long, thick canes from a rootstock clone, we can graft at different heights. We grow on a small commercial scale, +/- 20,000 trees, in 3-4 structures... A potted patio grade low graft, a 50cm topiary graft, a 100cm half standard graft, and a 200cm full standard graft. All but the full standard can be produced in a 1 year cycle, is shipped to northern hemisphere in our winter, their summer with enough time to flush again, is wintered in a pot, and sold the following spring as it comes into new leaf. The full standard needs an extra year here before we graft, to thicken up the stem so we can graft at 2 metres. Nice vid btw :)

The hardwood cuttings are cut just below a node, and dipped in rooting hormone, then placed in a box that has electric heat coils under the soil. We get spring soil temps here of 12-18 degrees C, so we get the cuttings started in late winter. It takes about two weeks for the cutting to get a lumpy white callous around the cut wound, and then we plant it into the rows. Within two weeks it will be shooting out roots and by the time we graft in late spring they are solidly anchored in the ground.

sorry, only acer palmatum root stock

@@maplesandmusic thank you. Going to search!

We purchased from a nursery wholesaler years ago. I am sure Amazon would have something?

Hi Dmitry, You made the right choice, You don't want any growth coming up below the graft as it will overtake the grafted section in time. Always keep the root stock below the graft free of any foilage coming out.

@@maplesandmusic I think no one did this in a long time.. I have only after pics... drive.google.com/file/d/1EJwhq8C0L941_wMnfgjaq8ISNeCr-cCE/view?usp=sharing, drive.google.com/file/d/1Gk36yIqeShyPR0RQ7U5wTjRH1qJeIMnn/view?usp=sharing, drive.google.com/file/d/1MfBozyMEX31jaQFs25HN87JjarXGH3B2/view?usp=sharing, drive.google.com/file/d/1navGWzUUCrreTOejui-VUraY2aXo-qyZ/view?usp=sharing

Hi John, My location is listed right below the video "chilliwack" which is located in the lower mainland of BC, Canada

I have many seeds started, but it seems I've I would be better off if I could find a super vigorous cultivar that would readily root to use as rootstock.

We have never applied a fungicide spray onto our maples in all our years of operation. The plastic bag is to help the condensation stay and reduce the amount of misting time. It is likely something that certainly will not hurt the plant. We just like to place them in a shaded area with shade cloth protection and do the old fashioned misting. We have the time to do that as well. As far as scion wood goes, cutting this years new growth of course and just ensuring the caliber is thick enough to some what match up with your root stock. Also a quick test of the scion to make sure it is not tender and will not bend when applying the fingers on either side.

and just for you! I created one more video in the grafting playlist: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bNFhIRph4Ms.html

@@maplesandmusic what a hero! Thx!! What is your succesrate?

@@Riverdale270 We have done as well as 83% and our poorest result was 59% one year. So overall quite descent. We always did strive for a 50% rate. I would graft approx 1000 trees each summer when we had our nursery

@@maplesandmusic were you able to earn a living with that nursury? Or was it sidebusiness?

the root stock is the acer palmatum. They are grown from seed and generally ready to graft onto after 3-4 years. Wen you mention "mother trees", those would be the grafted specimens growing in our garden that we used to graft the identical variety.

We prep our trees thru the months of June / July by trimming them regularly and then grafting takes place end of July / early August.

@@maplesandmusic I apologize. I asked what month do you prepare the graft - with a fork to graft maple, birch?

@@tadaskabliukas2797 Sorry, I don't quite understand your question? We only graft Japanese maple varieties. We don't graft other species like the ones you refer to above ( maple / birch). Also not sure what a fork has to do with grafting??Perhaps if you could clarify the question for me?

@@maplesandmusic Thanks. I understand that you vaccinate in July-August. And when are you cut with a maple fork for vaccination?☺