Hello Everyone, Well, I had a successful winter season of grafting. Being this my first time I wound up with about an 90% success rate. Out of about 200 grafts I am looking at about 180 pushing out strong. I was thinking about raising my own root-stock to cut down on the overall costs. I found a tree that I believe to be just a standard Acer Palmatum Green Leaf Maple and collected seed this past fall. I statified these and stuck them in a fridge over the winter. Later winter they started to grow Do these look like what I could use eventually as A.P. root-stock or not?
Looks good to me. It will be a while before they are ready to graft. I've found it difficult to reproduce the tall, straight trunks I find on commercially grown understock. They have it down to a science.
I have been rasing my own from open pollinated japanese maples from multiple cultivars for 3 years now, and it is as addicting as grafting as you may find no two are alike. I broadcast mine in a raised bed made of treated 2 x 8's, 8 feet long divided into 2 boxes with plastic underneath. I simply broadcast them as 'thick as hairs' once cold stratified and I think this helps both weed out the weaker ones and forces them to grow into those 'whips' like you get from commercial growers. I have had some each year in this arrangement make it to grafting size by year one, but not many. I also fertilize them pretty regular to help push them for this reason. After year 1, I up-pot them. I also take the time to strip the lower buds while in the bed in every year thereafter to limit lateral branching. If I could afford them, i would up-pot them in those rectangular Anderson plant bands which would allow you to stack them close together which also further limits lateral branching. Most of the time, it takes me 3-4 years to graft them and you will find that they all grow differently even from just a few sources if oepn pollinated. Unusual ones I set aside and weaker, shrubbier ones I eventually throw out, and dont graft. Like I said, growing your own is as addicting as grafting because of the natural variability you wll find from your seeds. Good luck! Justin
Hi All, Thanks for the replies. It is exciting to see them come up as well as they did. I think next year I will try what you are doing Justin and get them in the beds earlier. Mine in the refrigerator had begun to sprout by mid February. This made them a lot more difficult to work with when I put them in the boxes I made in the greenhouse. I pretty much had to kind of spread them out, cover the slightly and then let them find their way. Justin, what kind of fertilizer do you use with the new seedling that will not burn them? Houzi, not sure I am a natural or not. I just like to see what I can do and experiment. I did note on this experiment that the seeds that I soaked in water for a day had more to germinate than the ones I just put in zip-loc bags with potting mix. I also collected dog wood tree seeds and the seeds that I cleaned and soaked germinated. The ones I did not clean did not germinate and 100% failed. K4, I think Justin has some good ideas about packing them in tight and stripping off the bottom leaves. I was thinking about getting some of the Anderson Plant Bands myself next Fall. Stephen
Last year I germinated seeds in the fridge,but lost most of them when transplanted to pots,must've let the topsoil get too dry.This year I just sowed them in containers and left outside.They're all popping up now despite a very mild winter so I won't bother with the fridge/bags etc. anymore.As justin says,there's no reason to stick to species seedlings,cultivar ones can be just as vigorous and are even used commercially sometimes.Another way I'm saving money is rooting cuttings from the rootstocks at grafting time.You can take two or three from each rootstock and even with failures,you should be able to equal the number you started with.
I use cheap 'Wally World' Pennington 6-10-10 lightly for a couple of applications when little as have been told and learned that Japanese Maples are sensitive to ammonium sources of nitrogen. When they get a little size to them, I use some 15.5-0-0 non-ammonium fertilizer (calcium carbonate) found at local seed and feed. I try not to fertilize past end of August so they wont have tender growth when they go dormant. I am still learning but have found that those seeds that 'wake up' in the freezer from cold stratityfing dont make. I have also found in my area about 90 days is all they will last in fridge before growing so pick seeds accordingly. Also the rasied seed bed could allow you to cover them with plastic if frost or very cold wind is expected to protect when little as mine were planted mid feb. I also use fungicide several times throughout year and apply Ironite in case they are missing any trace minerals in my setup. let me know if you findd plant bands- what research I have done was too expensive due to shipping costs and no local suppliers. Justin
