Japanese Maples

[ccheese]

Hi All:

Going to start a Personal Gallery of my Japanese Maples. The first part will
be devoted to my grafts. Grafting is the only way to propagate the species.
Taking a cutting (called a scion) of a known Japanese maple (called a cultivar), and attaching it to a young seed grown generic maple by means
of a slice on the rootstock and inserting the scion, then wrapping with a
budding rubber. After that the entire scion is enclosed in a small plastic
bag, and tied with a twist tie. It must be kept in a lighted area inside.
You'll know in about 10 -14 days if the grafts has taken.

The following grafts were done in February and July of 2007.

Enjoy....

Charles

 

[ccheese]

Here are a few more. The last Tsuma Gaki was kinda iffy. I thought the
graft had taken, but it didn't bud out til today. I clipped the top of the
rootstock just today. This was grafted in July of 2007.

Charles

 

[Thorlifter]

Awesome work Charles. Do you have any pics of big trees you have done or is this a new hobby?

 

[evangilder]

Nice!

 

[Wayne Little]

Hey, that's neat Charles, good stuff!

 

[Erich]

Charles you already have new bud wood and immature leaves I see. My mature J. Maples are still asleep, of course we are still getting frost and probably will through the month of April from time to time

have you ever seen a specimen of the Koto NO Ito ? very unusual I must say

your grafts look like they have taken well but am wondering what your success rate has been .......over 65 % in the past ?

 

[Njaco]

Nice!

 

[ccheese]

....have you ever seen a specimen of the Koto No Ito ? very unusual I must say

your grafts look like they have taken well but am wondering what your success rate has been .......over 65 % in the past ?

Erich: My Koto No Ito is about five years old and maybe 3 feet high.
I have two grafts of Koto, below is the older of the two.

I've been grafting for about three years. My success rate for the first
two was a big zero. Last year I had 14 take out of 36 attempts. Not
a good average.

I also have a Koto Ito Komache and an Abigail Rose, both rather rare.
Counting my grafts I have about fifty cultivars, and perhaps 400 or
so generic JM's, that I use for root stock or sell to landscapers.

After I get the pic's of my grafts up, and the buds open on the cultivars,
I'll put some of them up.

My mentor is a PhD type from Auburn Univ. He's been quite good talking
to me via email, or telephone. He recently send me 20 scions from four
different JM's that I didn't have, which came from the grounds of Auburn
Univ. They're in the garage, sitting on a heated sandbox.

Charles

 

[Erich]

3 ' in 5 years is outstanding growth Charles, good for you, yes would like to see them when the buds have opened and slightly hardened off with the leaves. spring here is actually ahead of me, I have been pruning trees like it's out of style and am extremely worn out.....I need a long break to get back into my book project(s). Sad to see I have an old Beni Shidare Dissectum on the west side of my house which is begging to be cleaned out of dead twiggy wood .......... yeah what time.

back to J. maples, Charles you have the outstanding work by a guy to my north Dr. J.D. Vertrees, His Jap maple book has been th3e standard on the cultivars of the time for many a year. Obviously there are at least 25 plus that have been introduced since the last printing..........and he may have passed on as well. We visited him back in the late 1970's, wow what a yard of trees and Rhody/Azaalea and Dogwoods

 

[ccheese]

...back to J. maples, Charles you have the outstanding work by a guy to my north Dr. J.D. Vertrees, His Jap maple book has been the standard on the cultivars of the time for many a year. Obviously there are at least 25 plus that have been introduced since the last printing..........and he may have passed on as well. We visited him back in the late 1970's, wow what a yard of trees and Rhody/Azaalea and Dogwoods

Erich: I have the book Japanese Maples, By J.D. Vertrees, 3rd edition,
revised by Peter Gregory. Vertrees died in 1993, and the heir to the throne
is Gregory. There is a new book on JM's out, written by two Japanese guys.
The book is big bucks, and I thought I'd wait awhile.

As for my JM's I have four in the ground; Bloodgood, Crimson Queen,
Sango Kaku (aka Coral Bark), and a Sharp's Pygmy. The Crimson Q.
is about eight or so years old. It was in front of the dealership, and
a P/U truck backed over it. I dug it up and brought it home and stuck
it in the front yard. One side will take years to recover, but it's alive and
well.

If you'd like to try planting some seeds, lemme know. You can't just stick
them in dirt, there's a trick to it.

Charles

 

[syscom3]

Do you have a local nursery you buy them at?

 

[ccheese]

Do you have any pics of big trees you have done or is this a new hobby?

TL: I don't have anything you'd call big. My Crimson Queen is maybe
four foot high. This type of tree does not get tall. After about four or five
feet it boughs over and the longer branches head downward. I'll get a pic
of it this weekend, but it hasn't budded out yet. I've been collecting JM's
for about 6 years or so. Grafting is rather new for me.

Do you have a local nursery you buy them at?

Sys: I have bought a few of my trees from MacDonalds Garden Nursery,
but most have come from west coast nurseries, in Northern CA or Oregon.
All of my generic JM's I've grown from seed.

Charles

 

[Erich]

I'll try to add my specimen trees when I can get time to figure out my digi camera, my Beni Shidare is about 8 feet tall now over 15/20feet wide, pruned out open per see, in the fall it glows even at night like a orange pumpkin. My Suminigashi palmate is over 20 feet tall turns deep crimson in the fall, next to it is a smaller 4-5 foot tall Virdis dissectum

and yes Charels my 3 J. maples out on the west side of my house drop a truck load of seeds I have to pull starts out every year and throw them away.

There are 6 other varieties of Jap maple on the north and back of my house as well. 2 of them have been in pots for over 15 years

fun stuff

 

[ccheese]

.......and yes Charels my 3 J. maples out on the west
side of my house drop a truck load of seeds I have to pull starts out every
year and throw them away.......fun stuff

Next time you have a "truckload" of seeds, fill up a zip-loc bag and
send them to me. I'd love to have them.

There's a trick to growing seeds, called stratification. Perhaps you know of
it.

Charles

 

[Njaco]

Charles, geat stuff!

You guys have lost me on the types but I used to grow roses so I'm sure if I started with Chrysler Imperials or Lady Di's your head might spin!

Can you give us a little background about JMs? I always thought they were just small sized red maple trees. But your showing me there is a lot more.

 

[ccheese]

Charles, geat stuff!

Can you give us a little background about JMs? I always thought they were just small sized red maple trees. But your showing me there is a lot more.

Chris: Without going too deep into the JM's, they're not all red. There are
green ones (Viridis, Hogyoku), laceleafs, very small leaves (Baby Lace),
verigated (Abigail Rose), long skinny leaves (Koto No Ito Koto Ito Komache).
If you look at the one pic of the Koto No Ito, you'll see what I mean about
long and skinny.

There are trees that get very tall (Bloodgood others) and trees that will
stay small forever. I have a Murisake Kiyohime that is about 6 years old
that's maybe 24-26 inches high. Others will get about four or five feet
tall, then bough over and head down (Crimson Queen). They are pretty
much disease and pest free, also. But... they do not like fertilizer.
A dusting of 10-10-10 will burn them up.

To put it mildly, there is a JM for every yard, deck, porch, patio or balcony.

BTW, if any of the members would like to have a nice one or two year
old generic Japanese maple, I will be glad to send you one or two. They
have survived a trip to Mississippi in a box, so they'd make it to anywhere
in the US. The generics will get about 10 - 12 feet high and just as wide.

I like to watch them in the fall.... from green to red to orange to yellow.

Charles

 

[Erich]

interesting thoughts Charles, but I will tell you in the PCNW where we grow these gorgeous gems we have all sorts of problems with roots coming to the surface as the species is not deep rooted, some leaf spots but that is the norm in the wetter climes of Washington southern Canada, and they do get aphids sometimes very bad in the spring till they are a messy sticky glop.

I ya know what they take all sorts of fertilization without problem as long as you apply before the leaves unfold, and granted during a wet spring or very late winter, we are just now applying fertilizer applications now in my area, though we have been rather dry for the last 3 weeks.

~ Photos indicate the standards in Japan growing well over 40-60 feet in height and as in the states we have multi-tooted or large leafed maples so in Japan the Japonicum and palmate leaf patterned trees are very common with the butt-trunks several feet through. I have seen large specimens of Lace-leaf or dissectums ranging some 15 feet in height, most probably 100 year old trees - outstanding I must admit !!

Put me down for a Koto No Ito or is it the strap like leaved Koto Ito Komachi ? -- later this year maybe,Charles ? and Yes I will transport you many seeds this late August early fall from the Suminigashi, Beni Shidare, Osakazuki and
Tsukushigata which I have in a large container.....probably too confined, but the leaves are spectacular in spring and fall - flame orange red with yellow veins, bright green Samaras (seeds)

 

[syscom3]

.......Chrysler Imperials

I have that rose growing in my front yard!

I grow orchids and cacti.

Plus various citrus tree's.

 

[Erich]

ah Citrus something that would croak at first frost in October up here, remembered my Dad picking fresh grapefruits every morn off their small spot near Phoneix years ago, man those were so sweet

sys your orchids are hot house grown ? ...what varieties ?

 

[drgondog]

Charles you already have new bud wood and immature leaves I see. My mature J. Maples are still asleep, of course we are still getting frost and probably will through the month of April from time to time

have you ever seen a specimen of the Koto NO Ito ? very unusual I must say

your grafts look like they have taken well but am wondering what your success rate has been .......over 65 % in the past ?

We had a difficult time keeping our Jm's unmolested by the Wolfie puppies - particularly around our pond feature..

Still have to watch them like a hawk - ditto the palmetto- have no idea what the romance for munching trees is.