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Feature Article
Grafting
Grafting the Laceleaf Weeping
Japanese Red Maple
by Mike McGroarty
Grafting is one of the most interesting forms of plant propagation. It is also one of the most tedious and least used forms of propagation. Many wholesale nurserymen stay away from grafting because it is just too labor intensive. They either will not grow plants that have to be grafted, or they will buy small grafted plants from someone who specializes in grafting. Don't let that scare you off. Nurserymen are in business to make money. If it takes too long to produce a particular plant, they just stay away from it. They feel that they can do much better financially, growing something easier to produce. If you are daring enough to try your hand at grafting, you will realize a tremendous amount of pride and self satisfaction. Grafting is not difficult, it just takes patience.
One of the most beautiful landscape plants on this planet is the Laceleaf Weeping Japanese Red Maple. This tree is very low growing, most are not more than 4 feet tall. The branches spread out, make the tree wider than it is tall. The branches weep from the top of the tree to the ground, the foliage is deep in color and the leaves are delicately cut on the edges. This plant is breath taking during the spring and summer months. Nobody walks by this plant without taking notice. It is just as interesting during the winter, the weeping branches create a very unique effect even though the plant is without leaves.
The only method of propagation for the Laceleaf Weeping Japanese Red Maple is grafting. Very few nurseries grow them. That's why a 3 foot tall plant in a garden center is likely to have a price tag of $150.00 USD or more. You can grow one yourself for a little bit of nothing.
Grafting is the art of attaching a piece of one plant to another in such a way that the two pieces will bond and become one plant. One plant is used to provide the root system and sometimes the stem, while the other plant is grafted on to this plant to grow into the variety of plant the grower actually desires.
In the case of the Laceleaf Weeping Japanese Red Maple, the root stock would be a Japanese Maple grown from seed. The Laceleaf Weeping Japanese Red Maple would be the desired variety. A small piece of this desired variety would be grafted on to the rootstock to create the desired plant.
If you would like to create a Laceleaf Weeping Japanese Maple through the magic of grafting, you must first raise a regular Japanese Maple tree from seed to use as the rootstock. You can do this using the techniques described in the section of growing landscape plants from seed at FreePlants.com.
Japanese Maple seeds have a hard seed coat and can be pretreated by soaking in hot water as described in the previous section of this book. After perforating, store them in a bag of moist peat in the refrigerator for a period of 100 to 120 days before planting. This procedure should induce germination and the seedlings will start growing shortly after planting them out.
If your seedlings come up quite close together, they should be transplanted where they will have more room. This can be done either in the late fall or early spring. Allow the seedlings to grow until they are about 3/16 of an inch to 1/4 inch in diameter.
Copyright © 1998 by Michael J. McGroarty
Michael McGroarty is a hands-on plant propagation expert and proprietor of the plant propagation site, FreePlants.com. He is the author of several books, publications and videos about plant propagation techniques. Article reprinted with permission.
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