Hail Mary Advice for a No Hoper Garnet

[PNWMossback]

Long story short, how can I revive an acer stump as winter approaches? Open to all suggestions as this one just fell in my lap, but I do think it would be awesome to have a heavily tapered thick trunked red leaf maple

I have what seems to be a pretty old and oft injured acer palmatum- garnet. Tore it out early spring while fixing a garden bed and potted it up in hopes that it would take and that I could eventually use it to learn cut and grow tapering.

As you can see, I've lost most of the branches throughout the year (major drought plus transplant shock) and all I can hope for is to use one of the two remaining branches as a leader. All the branches were growing from where a break topped the trunk and as that happened before my even moving here, it remained unsealed and is now rotting away.

I've seen Peter Chan throw unhealthy trees is sphagnum moss and greenhouse them while they recover but would it make more sense to allow dormancy and try the sphagnum trick in repotting season? Or will two months in the mid 20's (F) do this one in?

 

[NaoTK]

He's dead Jim. Come to a BSOP meeting for a better replacement.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Tore it out

Ya blew it.

 

[Shibui]

Rotting stump will rarely affect the overall health of a tree as all the life processes occur in the living wood close to the bark. Many trees live long lives completely hollow.
Any decline is likely related to the transplant and subsequent care. Not much you can do about that now.
I would not give up hope for this tree. If it survives the winter next spring is another year and I've seen plenty of trees take off and grow in the new season. Obviously you'll need to take better care through winter and next growing season if you expect to have better results.

 

[PNWMossback]

Rotting stump will rarely affect the overall health of a tree as all the life processes occur in the living wood close to the bark. Many trees live long lives completely hollow.
Any decline is likely related to the transplant and subsequent care. Not much you can do about that now.
I would not give up hope for this tree. If it survives the winter next spring is another year and I've seen plenty of trees take off and grow in the new season. Obviously you'll need to take better care through winter and next growing season if you expect to have better results.

This had been my thought. Although I think it's a very long shot at seeing buds in the spring, the cambium on these two branches is still green. Do you have any insights on how to overwinter it for best odds?

 

[Shibui]

How to overwinter will depend very much on location and degrees of cold.
So far no indication of where in the world this tree lives though I guess PNW refers to Pacific North West so only possible to give general advice. Option for location in personal profile is there for this very reason. Gives all others an indication of your climate so they can tailor advice to suit.
If you're in a mild climate I can give excellent advice but have no experience with PNW winters.