I searched around but did not find much. Is this tree propagated by nurserymen through cuttings or grafting? Thanks!!
The majority of what you will find in the market place is grafted. It is a challenge to get cuttings to root and if they do many times the roots are underdeveloped causing the tree to fail. Some purist will say it could be done, but most people in the trade do not want to take the time and care that goes into cuttings. It is not profitable for growers to use cuttings because of the time / care along with the fail rate of Japanese maple cuttings. Grafting is better for growers and gives the best results for the average consumer. In the bonsai community they may use Japanese maple cuttings because some don't want a graft union on their miniature tree, but they tend to be more expensive and hard to find. Some varieties are almost next to impossible to root and some are even very hard to graft.
So would a Fireglow be better grafted on red root stock or green root stock? How do you find out when it makes a difference? Stephen
Better to graft red on red. DNA transfer has been demonstrated locally across the graft union (sorry, don't have access to the paper at my current location). JT1's point is right on. Dirr says that Bloodgood is an easy rooter and roots with near 100% success. But most sources report only a very low success rate IIRC across a range of palmatums. Harris points out that apparently successful rooted palmatum cuttings are prone to sudden failure several years on. I don't know the answer for Fireglow specifically but given the amount of fraud in the industry I am suspicious of any named cultivar without a graft union. It will most likely be a seedling with similar (or not!) characteristics that someone is passing off. -E
Thanks Emery, If you have any links to research papers or similar credential I would really like to read. Stephen
