The new reddish-skinned branch coming from the lower trunk of your Seiryu is not coral bark. It's an adventitious bud from the rootstock that the Seiryu is grafted on. The rootstock is just regular seedling-grown Japanese Maple, and many of them get reddish bark in the fall but will not glow in the winter like a true Sango Kaku. Cut it out now. The longer you wait the larger the pruning scar will be, and often sprouts that come directly from the rootstock will be more vigorous than the grafted variety, thus robbing your grafted selection of nutrients.

Agree.

Dax

If the new growth looks better than the Seiryu why not let it grow and eventually cut out the Seiryu? You can always get another Seiryu. A understock seedling is unique and can be judged on it's own merits. If it's not good enough to keep, then cut it off. You have several years to make a decision.
I know this is heresy to you trophy collectors, but the bottom line is you grow maples for their beauty. That's why you choose the maples you do. The named varieties were seedlings or sports at one time and didn't have a name until they were selected and grafted and put up for sale. Unless you're selling them, or communicating with other collectors, who cares what the name is?

I think that is a VERY bad idea...there is NO reason to believe the root stock is special from one new growth branch ......you can buy 10 red Acer palmatum generic seed growns for what one nice Seiryu may cost. Both green and red A.P.'s are used for root stock the latter a bit more rare since many growers can sell them to umknowing folks for biggeer bucks than the green even though they most likely will be ORDINARY...Ideally they should match but most growers are too busy, lazy, or just don't care.... and the green is always much cheaper especially larger diameter RS for the same reason above they can sell them for 25$$ or more in 3-4 years. Whatever keeping an unknown and throwing out a Known cultivar is at the very least ignorant and very short sited IMHO...But one persons decisions may be so while anothers is otherwise ...that is my opinion but it is not my tree , decision and I am NOT infallable so make your own choice!! David

You should see botann's gardens :) The guy has found an easy way not to spend money! LOL

Brotherly love.

Later,

Dax

You don't have to buy seeds on line. Just find the best Japanese maples you can find and get permission to harvest some seed and go from there. That way you are not trying to grow a grower's understock which is normally inferior to the named variety. Normally, but not always. Like I said, you have a couple of years to make the decision to grow the understock or cut it out. The small wound from the cut is not worth worrying about. Some named varieties don't have a lot of vigor. By letting the understock grow for a year or two you can really add to the root system and a lot faster than if it were cut out right away.
Acer palmatums have a lot of genetic variability and it's fun to see what comes up. Most conifers don't have the genetic variability of Japanese maples.
Here's one.

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Here's another.

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