58. Japanese Maple Grafting
First time trying, failing, hoping.
I am excited to try my luck grafting Japanese Maples. It was harder than I thought! Now we wait to see — will I get lucky?
I ordered 25 x 1/4” diameter Green Japanese Maples from Willamette Nurseries in Oregon ($130 for the package, including shipping, or $5.20 per root stock).
Tutorials
I watched as many YouTube videos as I could find on the topic. I liked the series by Mr. Maple. Here are their 5 Tips for Grafting Japanese Maples:
Rootstock Preparation
let rootstock dry and check for white rooting
Sharp Knife
Sterilize Utensils and Workspace
Use Healthy Rootstock and Scion
Don’t over water
I watched these Mr. Maple videos a few times: How to Graft a Japanese Maple and The ABC’s of Grafting Propagation Part 2
My notes from these videos:
Let the rootstock dry out, ideally in a greenhouse with bottom heat for about 2 weeks in January.
I am already at the end of February, so maybe I don’t have to wait so long, or maybe I am too late, I don’t know.
The scion is last year’s growth (looks like maybe 4-6 inches) with two to three nodes. (Cut scion right above a set of buds)
Hold the scion at the bud, but rotated 90 degrees so not squishing the buds
Cut the scion end to a point, both sides
At rootstock, make cut right below a node
Need to get cambium (green part) to align
Use elastic, run up and down the graft
Cut the rootstock down (but keep taller than cutting)
Apply wax to top of graft and top of cut at cutting, not at top of rootstock
If want, can apply bag around graft. If do so, once start seeing leefing out, let humidity out slowly by cutting holes in bag before taking it off
Cut root stock down once see buds are about to leaf out and when scion is hardening and graft has taken. Typically do this in March (I suppose this would be assuming you started in January), right before it fully leafs out OR if it already leafed out, then wait until that new growth has hardened.
Rootstock Preparation
My rootstock arrived a about five days ago and it has been hanging out in my greenhouse. I gave it a bit of water the other day, it just felt so wrong not to water them, but maybe I should have just stuck with the original plan! Then again, since I plan on not watering them again until the graft has taken, probably better to be lightly moist.
Here is what the roots looked like on February 25, 2023. Is that white rooting? Maybe.
Sharp Knife and Sterlize
This one was relatively easy, since I purchased new pruners and a new grafting knife from Amazon so they should be both sharp and sterile!
Fiskars Pruners ($15)
Zenport K106 Grafting Japanese Steel Blade ($15)
New Bonsai Pruning Cutting Sealer 100g Made in Japan ($13)
Healthy Rootstock and Scion
I hope the Rootstock I bought is quality, and for the Scion, I am using cuttings from Japanese Maples that I planted last year. Here are the cultivars (and how many grafts of each):
Osakazuki (x10)
Ukigumo (x5)
Mikawa Yatsubusa (x4)
Golden Full Moon (x3)
Autumn Moon (x3)
The Steps
Today was the day that I took the plunge and took out the knife!
Timestamp on these photos is February 26th, 2024.
Cut the rootstock to roughly 1 foot height:
Cut the scion with 2 to 3 nodes:
Notes: the Osakazuki (pictured) scions looked great, but it was really hard to get good samples from the others; they were either really limited in number, really short, or too delicate.
Cut the wedge:
Notes: I used the technique I saw on Mr. Maple, but it was surprisingly hard to get an even wedge on both sides.
Cut the rootstock wedge:
Notes: I held onto the top of the root stock and made my cut. This was really hard to do, maybe my cheap Amazon knife is not sharp enough or I lack the proper technique. A few times, I started cutting and then accidentally cut the entire wedge off; when that happened I hid the cut off part under the “bandage”, hoping it would heal along with the scion.
Align the cambium & wrap the elastic:
Notes: The size of my root stock and scion was pretty different, and my skill level too low to even try to match the green parts, so I just kind of stuck in in there and hoped for the best. The wrapping of the elastic was easy: up, down and tie a knot.
Apply the wax:
I found this grafting wax on Amazon, but there is no English text. I squirted some on to a plastic bag and used a paint brush to apply to the top of any cut scion and to the top of the graft. Hope that was right!
End Result:
Part C
Part A: Advanced Preparation
Part B: Blades in Motion
Part C: After Care
For now, the grafts are sitting on my potting table in my greenhouse. I hope the greenhouse provides enough humidity, but I will resist the urge to water them too much, until I see some new leaf growth.
My next step is to anxiously wait three weeks to see how it goes!
2025 Update: they all failed. I tried again in the summer, all failed, and tried again in early winter 2025 and so far looks promising…