Grafting question

Discussion in 'Maples' started by rufretic, Jan 16, 2014.

  1. rufretic

    rufretic Active Member

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    I have a jm I just recieved in the mail and it was snapped in half, about a 1/2" trunk. I don't want to have it be a total loss if possible so I attached it best I could, it actually fit back together pretty nice. Now I'm hoping it will heal like a fresh graft. My question is, do I need to keep it inside and let it come out of dormancy early for it to have the best chance of healing? It seems too early in my area, we still have a good 2 months of freezing temps and I'm not sure if taking it out of dormancy this early will do more bad than good. Or should I just put it back out in the cold garage and let it go till spring? I know it will need the sap flow to heal, just not sure if it can wait till spring or not. Please help. Thanks.
     
  2. Houzi

    Houzi Active Member 10 Years

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    Sorry to hear of your misfortune,I hope you can get some compensation.
    Well you can't really do more harm than has already occured.....how the hell???
    Give it a go now but my gut feeling is the top half will have died at the break before the bottom wakes up.I think the only option is to take scions from it and re-graft.Otherwise hope for some new buds below the break.
     
  3. rufretic

    rufretic Active Member

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    What I meant by more harm is if I kill the whole plant by taking it out of dormancy too early. If I cut it at the break and leave it in the garage till spring, it would be like a new graft, small but at least alive. The tree was about 4' and it broke about 4 inches above the graft. Obviously I'd like to keep it full size and alive. The grower is sending me a replacement but unfortunatly, this was the last one of this cultivar so I had to pick another. FedEx must have thrown this package around like they just didn't care to beat it up this bad. The worst part is they wont even insure live plants so the grower is going to eat it. I hate Fedex!
     
  4. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    I tend to agree that it is unlikely to heal, not least because the wound will have dried up in the shipping container. I doubt it is worth it to even try to reattach the stem but on the other hand it can be seen as a good opportunity to have some fun with the decapitation victim. As most of the plant's stored energy is overwintered in the roots this tree/stump still has the potential to grow a four to six feet main stem in 2014 that you can train however you like.

    For example:
    If it is a cultivar that would look nice as a standard, it can easily be trained to a straight vertical six foot stem. Start by making a clean cut just above a node (ring) on the stem and repot into a larger container placing a seven foot cane close to the trunk with six feet or so showing above soil level. (You will most likely need the larger container to properly support the cane.) When the tree breaks bud in the spring choose the best positioned and/or healthiest shoot and rub out the rest. As the shoot grows keep tying it to the cane, meanwhile removing all side shoots and rootstock sprouts at the first opportunity so that all of the plant's energy can go into vertical growth. With a healthy rootstock in a decent sized container you can reach six feet in the first year!
    The standard maple will need staking for two years minimum, and in the second year you can allow some small side branches to grow out from the main trunk which will help to thicken up the trunk, pinching out the growing tips before they get too long. Allow branches above the six foot mark (or whatever height you chose) to grow and divide freely. If the trunk seems thick and strong enough by fall of the second year you can remove the stake after leaf drop and trim off the small branches from the main trunk. If you think it needs more time then wait till fall of the following year.

    That is just one possibility; if you have another preferred form it is likely you could achieve that too. It is a two year project, at a minimum, but better to take control of the growth and turn it to your advantage than leave it to its own devices.

    P.S. Fedex loading, Fedex unloading!
     
  5. rufretic

    rufretic Active Member

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    My main question is not if the repair will take or not, but if the tree will be ok taken out of dormancy so early? If it's ok then I'll give it a shot and wait to see what lives. If it takes great, if not then I can take your advise and start to grow a new tree. My concern is if the tree will even make it to spring in my house. If odds are I'm going to kill the whole tree then I'm better off just leaving it dormant until the spring and start from scratch.

    I just noticed the links, that is unbelievable. So many good workers unemployed these days and they have idiots like that working for them. I think they pay the drivers pretty good too. Whatever happened to taking pride in your work? Who ever handled my packages had to be worse than those videos, one of my boxes was ripped in half! I don't understand how they can get away with not insuring plants, especialy when it is an obvious misshandling case.
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2014
  6. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Too Far Gone

    If the repair is not going to take in any case, why risk it?

    Even if you reattached the stem within a minute of it breaking, which you obviously did not, you would still need to strictly control the humidity levels for a decent chance of success. (normal house environment is too dry)

    Bringing a maple out of dormancy early is not going to kill it under normal circumstances neccessarily, but why stress an already traumatised plant when the potential benefit is near to zero?

    P.S. Glad you liked the videos, there is no excuse for treating the customer so badly.
     
  7. rufretic

    rufretic Active Member

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    That's a good point. My only reason for wanting to try saving it so badly is that this cultivar is a slow grower, especialy in my area. I lost 2-3 years of growth. Here, in 2-3 years it will be half this size. I guess I'll just throw it back in the garage for now. In the spring I'll stick it the ground and hope for the best. At least I have a replacement comming, so I can look forward to that one being a decent sized tree. Maybe in ten years this one will be a nice tree too lol.
     
  8. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    What cultivar is it btw? It would be interesting to know.

    Sad to lose the top growth from a slow growing tree, but staked single stem seems the way to go to maximise the potential stored in the roots and make the best of a bad situation.
     
  9. rufretic

    rufretic Active Member

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    Peve Multicolor
     
  10. ksc

    ksc Member

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    Did it break into 2 pieces or was some of the bark still attached? I had 100% sucess last year repairing a few trees that were snapped by snow (some bark still attached). I wrapped them with electrical tape and then used a hose clamp to squeeze them together. The ones that snapped completely off to a stump all grew back too. I'd just leave it dormant and hope for the best.
     
  11. rufretic

    rufretic Active Member

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    It broke clean off. It looked fresh though, like it happened when it got thrown on my driveway. I knew it could work, I just wasn't sure about the dormancy thing. Thanks for sharing your experience and giving me some hope. :-)
     
  12. ksc

    ksc Member

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    Just to clarify, I've only had success if there was some bark still attached. I've tried a few that were completely broken in 2 and never had the tops live. The stumps will grow really fast though as they have a large root system.
     

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