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Ever see a tall or old grafted tree fail at the graft?

6 years ago

I have always looked at the obvious graft line on my Ogon and wondered how well the two are fused together. Obviously this thing is working. It was a 3ft transplant ~2010 and is growing faster than I thought any fu fu yellow leafed tree could.

Have any of you who frequent botanical circles ever heard of a really mature tree failing at the graft? Seems like there is a CHANCE in the long term future for any of them but I never hear about it.

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Konrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta

6 years ago

Mostly when you have incompatible stock like this....can break off in a strong wind if not stacked.

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Comments (7)

theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
6 years ago
I've only read about it but yeah, grafts can fail after years of seemingly healthy growth. Delayed incompatibility of tree grafts search results.

This link from Cornell has a part that talks about a grafted red maple surviving for 12 years before it failed.

Rodney
Embothrium
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
The way the stock on your specimen looks pinched at it enters the ground indicates deformity due to careless container culture. This may become the more immediate issue in this instance than delayed incompatibility. One saving grace is that redwoods pretty much never blow over.

Although not limited to them by any means grafted conifers seen on the retail market in my area very consistently have badly deformed roots. Really the only woody material where this is not chronic is that which is presented and sold to the consumer bare-rooted. With no container, field soil or potting medium present to at least partially hide the sorry state of them.
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NHBabs z4b-5a NH
6 years ago
My inlaws had a plum tree that after perhaps 15 years of growing well and producing fruit broke off at the graft in a wind storm.
waynedanielson
6 years ago
The way the stock on your specimen looks pinched at it enters the ground indicates deformity due to careless container culture.

There's a few things I have to say on this one. First, Nope to the lifted comment. Not a chance from a tree that can put on an inch of caliper a year. If it were the case, every single Metasequoia I've ever seen has the same issue...they grow so quickly, in such a non-radial manner, you're going to have idiosyncrasies in how the trunk appears.

I've seen a few trees over the years where the scion grew much faster than the stock, or vice versa. a few. I saw one once that had an interstock that grew faster than either scion or stock. By a few, I don't suppose I've seen more than one every few years. They exist. What is the eventual outcome, due to the unequal growth rate? Eventual failure, I'm sure, but in how many years, I just don't know.

Every so often, a variant of this question appears on various threads here. Usually in the guise of picture heavy threads of specimens that grow lopsided on one side of the graft or another.

Years ago, in my college years (yes, I can remember them), there was a discussion re: graft incompatibility with one of the professors. Long story short, it's complicated, and hard to predict. The specific question was re: caragana and the weeping varieties, what I recall was that he didn't think there was any truly compatible combination of stock, interstock, and scion. But most would last about 20 years before petering out.

I've seen orchard rows where in a row or block, there's be one or a few individuals exhibiting vigorous stock growth relative to the scion, or vice versa. Blocks planted at a rate of 1400 hundred trees an acre, and there may be one or a couple, all otherwise identical, except for a meagre handful of rogue individuals. No way to predict, and really nothing to do except let it live it's course.
Logan L Johnson
6 years ago
Yes, and my proof would be a 40 year old acer palmatum var. dissectum that I saw a month ago at a local park.
Konrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I found a way of helping the bulging on incompatible root & scion.

bulging

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