Alive?

[jimlau]

I may try a thread graft on a trident. But the trunk seems to have off and on dead sections. Can anyone determine where there is a place where the cambium is still alive? Or do I have to thry to scrape off a bit to look for green?

I think the almost orange strips are alive.

Thanks.

 

[Shibui]

Your hunch is probably correct. The orange sections appear to be callus trying to grow over the dead sections. Callus is the first stage of grafting so grafting through those areas may give some advantage though it can be hard to work out where the live cambium is in a developing callus like this.
Otherwise behind the developing callus should have good live cambium.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Get it wet and you should be able to easily tell. Trident maple bark is thin enough that you can see underneath orange is likely dead and green is likely alive.