Garden Japanese Maple and ugly graft

[ForThemWhatCare]

I cleaned up this garden Acer palmatum var. dissectum Japanese Maple and saw that huge ugly graft. I don't know if it can ever be beautiful but is it worth keeping to shape? And if so are there any choices still okay to do today or wait a season? I've already removed ~25% of the mass.

 

[Apex37]

I mean what's your plans with it? Are you wanting to bonsai it or keep it as a decorative yard tree? Usually grafts, unless done really well, aren't ideal in bonsai. I made the mistake when I was first starting out of buying a garden center JM that was grafted, but decided to keep it and have it in a really big pot to plant when we move into our first house.

If planning to bonsai, you could always air layer above the graft later down the road. Either way, beautiful tree!

 

[ForThemWhatCare]

Well, I'd love it if I could make it something that I could call "Niwaki". Can one follow Bonsai principles for developing a garden tree into something that already exists in the garden? And I agree about avoiding buying nursey stock for JM. My actual JM bonsai tree I'm working on was grown from seed.

 

[Sunwyrm]

If you're just planning on niwaki-ing it, I would just hide it with some well placed branches, that can at least take the eye away from it. Looks like you already have branches in place for that so keep on doing what you're doing!

 

[ForThemWhatCare]

I've been doing a lot of cut-n-grow with this garden tree (still working to hide the ugly graft). I lost the mid-left branch last year as well as that top right one and am wondering if now is an okay time to cut them back to the trunk and clean up old wounds or do I have to wait until it stops producing new branches?

I also am wondering if I'm cutting back to 1-2 nodes too soon as I'm not seeing a lot of these new branches developing into good secondary branches. Should I be waiting until the leaves fully darken before doing the cutbacks or does that not matter for ensuring branches fully harden off?

 

[dbonsaiw]

still working to hide the ugly graft

Not sure how possible that will be. My (limited) experience is that bad grafts just get worse with time.

 

[ForThemWhatCare]

Not sure how possible that will be. My (limited) experience is that bad grafts just get worse with time.

Hide it with a branch...

 

[Cadillactaste]

Honestly...if kept as landscape. Most all landscape are grafted... no one but one with Bonsai experience would notice it.

 

[RKatzin]

My Makawa yatsubusa has exactly the same type of graft. And it has only gotten worse with age. It was grafted in 2010 and I got it in 2012. It's quite a big tree now and I'm attempting to airlayer some of the branches off.
I've been thinking that this type of growth is caused by grafting a dwarf variety onto a standard maple rootstock and the standard trunk way out grows the dwarf tree.
I want to try a wire either at the very top of the standard or right at the base of the Makawa then mound up the soil around it. It would be acceptable if it were down at ground level or gone completely, but I want to get some parts off before I maybe kill the whole thing. I'll try to get a show me pic.

 

[ForThemWhatCare]

My Makawa yatsubusa has exactly the same type of graft. And it has only gotten worse with age. It was grafted in 2010 and I got it in 2012. It's quite a big tree now and I'm attempting to airlayer some of the branches off.
I've been thinking that this type of growth is caused by grafting a dwarf variety onto a standard maple rootstock and the standard trunk way out grows the dwarf tree.
I want to try a wire either at the very top of the standard or right at the base of the Makawa then mound up the soil around it. It would be acceptable if it were down at ground level or gone completely, but I want to get some parts off before I maybe kill the whole thing. I'll try to get a show me pic.

Let us know if you try it and it works. I've not tried JP for bonsai just because it is so hard to get your hands on one that isn't grafted. My father-in-law gave me 1" diameter one that spouted wild in his yard but it will still take decades of cut-in-grow before it can be anything...