I have a small A. Palmatum Butterfly in a small pot that I bought a couple of months ago. During the summer, the tree started making some shoots below the graft point which were pink and the shape of the leaves resembled dissectum types. Now that the leaves of the butterfly scion started to wilt without any interesting fall color, the pink leaves still retain the pink color. I'm still not sure whether the rootstock is a dissectum, because I guess that the butterfly leaves are somewhat divided as well. What do you think? Is the rootstock something completely different which is a dissectum type? Or are the new leaves of butterfly supposed to look like this (so that we can conclude that the rootstock is from a seed of a butterfly)? Either way, IMO the rootstock here is more interesting than the scion. Afterall, I can always purchase another butterfly.
Hi Kanuni, Yes it looks like the root stock is a dissectum. Normally, if you wish to retain the graft you should cut off the stock growth as soon as it appears, or better yet rub the buds out. If you like the understock better than the graft, just cut back to below the scion. Anyway that is certainly not what new butterfly growth looks like. cheers, -E
Thanks emery. I think I will keep the understock then. By the way, do you know of any pink dissectum cultivars that look similiar to this one?
