I grafted 10 maples on 8/7/2022. 8 of them look to be successful. About half are pushing new growth. I used parafilm grafting tape and kept in 5 gallon buckets after grafting. I covered the bucket with white plastic grocery sack and kept in shade. I removed the plastic sack after about 10 days. I will keep those that push new growth under LED grow light this winter as experiment Shirasawanum Aureum
That looks excellent! Nice clean grafts, too. When will you cut the stock down, after dormancy or next year? I guess a big part of the trick is getting them through the winter, also.
@emery I will remove after dormancy for those that don't push new growth. For those that are actively growing, I will cut when I put under the LEDs
Hey Keith. It seemed like we both had the same on 8/7. I also start graft that day. I did 20 and lost 2 so far from that batch. I used grafting rubber bands because it pulls the grafts tight. I didn't have that good of luck a few year ago with buddy type. I did do a few grafts this year with it to see what happens. A few of the grafts Using grafting rubber bands, baggies to hold moisture, and tie to keep the baggie closed. Nice fat buds after a month Root growth Good thing about buddy tape is you can see when it callus I removed the tie to open up the baggies on the month old grafts. I'll remove them completely in the next two weeks. Hopefully no new buds well open doing this process. I did this same process last year and had great success. Doing my vacation in April a late freeze came and killed all of the grafts I did last year. Last year I started grafting the first week of Sept.
@LoverOfMaples looking good there. I have found I can get an extremely tight graft junction with the tape. Sometimes I put a twist in the tape to get extra tensile strength. Next year I want to try air layering to create rootstock and grafting in August when I separate the layer.
Make sure you let the new young grafted stem time to harden off and let the buds set for winter. Don't push it too much with cooler weather and less sunlight coming. That is always the critical point with grafting from our experience. The grafts can start looking so cute in september but you want to make sure they harden off and loose their leaves before frost arrives. Wait until early spring, just before the new leaves want to push out before cutting out the upper section of the root stock above the graft. Good luck, and your grafts look great!
Can u use seedlings from Acer palmatum cultivars(already grafted) as rootstock or is it better to use seeds from Acer palmatum. I collected seeds from grafted trees and want to use the best growing ones to graft onto.
Personally we always would use the acer palmatum root stock and purchase in large quantities. But with that said, you can use seedlings from grafted cultivators that you have grown as well. You may find that the success rate may alter and also make sure you have seedlings on hand from a vigorous growing variety, ie. bloodgood seedlings for example grafting onto seedling of very slow growing grafted varieties may not get you the success you are hoping for
