secateurs pruning japanese maple

Help! My Japanese maple is turning into a regular maple

Today’s post isn’t something that everyone is going to be able to use right away, but it’s handy information to know and file away in your brain, in case you need it in future.

A month or so ago I noticed a branch on my Japanese maple that looked different from all of the other branches in three ways.

 

First of all, it was heading up, while all of the other branches cascade down. Second, the leaves were solid green, while the rest of the leaves are reddish. And thirdly, the leaves on that branch weren’t the same shape as the leaves on the rest of the tree—they looked like a traditional maple leaf, instead of deeply lobed and serrated.

 

 

I knew that if I left this branch in place I’d have a problem. This video will tell you why and what I did about it:

 

It seems that the problem with my Japanese maple was that it was reverting to the rootstock that it had been grafted onto. Grafting is a very common practice with woody plants—especially roses and small trees. It’s a bit of Frankenstein magic where the top part of a plant is joined onto the roots of another plant. This is done for a few reasons, usually because the root stock is hardier (i.e. more able to handle our winters) than the part of the plant on top, or because the root stock has a desirable characteristic (faster or slower growing). I had no idea my maple was grafted when I bought it—it was only when the rogue shoot emerged that I noticed.

I had to get rid of the rogue shoot because if I didn’t it would have taken over the entire tree. In a season or two the downward arching branches would have still been there, but they would have been outnumbered by many more vigorous upright branches with green foliage. Likely a nice tree, but probably much larger and not the look I wanted in that location.

Now that I know this tree has a graft and it’s tried to sprout once I will need to keep an eye on it in case more emerge. I tried to trim the rogue shoot as close to the tree trunk as possible, but because of the angle it was growing it wasn’t as clean of a cut as I would have liked. In future posts I’ll talk in more detail about pruning unwanted branches, but for now know that if you have a rogue branch you want to cut it as close to the trunk as possible.

The situation described above doesn’t just happen with Japanese maples. If you have other plants that are grafted and notice a branch that isn’t like the others, you may have the same problem. Keep an eye out and your secateurs handy!

13 Comments

  1. Harlow Marie on June 17, 2020 at 1:38 pm

    My rouge branch is a lot thicker than yours because 8 didn’t realize what was going on until way later. Is it still OK to chop it off? I’m worried I’ll kill the rest of my Japanese maple by doing so. I’ve had some people tell me to wait until fall or winter to cut it off.. But it’s June 17, 2020 so I don’t know if I should wait several months to chop it off

  2. Harlow Marie on June 17, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    My rouge branch is a lot thicker than yours because I didn’t realize what was going on until way later. Is it still OK to chop it off? I’m worried I’ll kill the rest of my Japanese maple by doing so. I’ve had some people tell me to wait until fall or winter to cut it off.. But it’s June 17, 2020 so I don’t know if I should wait several months to chop it off

    • Jennifer on June 19, 2020 at 8:48 am

      Hi Marie. If you don’t remove the branch it will overtake the Japanese maple completely over time. If you like the new branch and want a full tree of it, then you can leave it (note that it will likely be larger than the Japanese maple you were planning on growing in that spot). If it was my tree, and I didn’t want it to revert, I would cut it off right now. Summer solstice is a traditional time for pruning–“prune in spring if you want to promote growth, prune in summer if you want to contain growth” is sort of the saying.

  3. Ruth Watson on August 13, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    I’m not sure which part of my maple is the correct one as both are variegated. Part is small, pale green with orange edges. The other is larger, darker green with orangy edges. Similar shaped leaves. The smaller are one side and higher up, the larger are all lower.

  4. Dave Hewgley on October 26, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    I had that problem with my Japanese maple a bunch of the green leave branches started sprouting out of the bottom and one side of the tree started dying off. So I cut off all the sprouts and any totally dead branches . Then I wrap the bottom of the tree in aluminum foil, then I wrap the aluminum foil with duct tape . and after a year the tree has filled back in and no new growth of the green leaves .

    • Cyndi on May 20, 2023 at 12:03 am

      Hi Dave, what does the foil and duct tape do?
      We’re seeing this in a couple of our Japanese maples.

  5. Bonnie Wyckoff on February 18, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    We have shoots coming up from the base. Should we cut them off?

    • Jennifer on February 19, 2022 at 9:57 am

      If it’s coming from below the graft (including underground) then yes, I would.

  6. Julie Sanchez on May 2, 2022 at 1:14 pm

    Oh my gosh I’m so glad you posted this. My Rouge branch is taking over my Jap maple also. It’s so sad. Hate to chop it off. Looks like I have two trees. But looks wrong. So off it goes. Thank you!!!

  7. Mike Andre on June 27, 2022 at 10:43 am

    For those of us into bonsai, why can’t we leave the branch below the graph on as a sacrificial branch to help thicken the stem (or nebari) and how long would this be valid before it overtakes the tree? Thx.

  8. Natalie on April 23, 2023 at 4:55 pm

    Thanks you for this post. I just discovered a strange branch half way up.

  9. Donna on April 23, 2023 at 6:57 pm

    Can I use the cut branch to make another tree?

  10. Josh on August 25, 2023 at 2:39 pm

    A decent sized branch requires air layer on the plant before cutting off, a plant can handle 30% of a loss without shock any given time. But needs a few days to week to heal before doing more but some plants can handle 50%loss

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