Is this Japanese Maple (Shin-Deshojo) grafted?

[Emanon]

Can anyone else see a possible graft line on this Japanese Maple (Shin-Deshojo)? If so, what should I do? (The red arrow in the first picture points to where I think the graft might be.)

This spring I sawed off everything below the red line in the first picture and screwed the tree to a board. I had planned on letting it grow this year and next before repotting again. If there is a graft line, what does this foretell for the future if I leave the tree as is and just work on the roots (i.e. on getting them to all grow lateral and all around the trunk) at this point, just below where I maybe seeing a graft? Will such a low graft ruin or even alightly affect the aesthetics of the tree years, decades, from now? I don't think the graft (if there is one) goes all around the base of the trunk. Some of the roots appear to be coming out of what has to be the Shin-Deshojo scion...

Because it is growing so well this spring, I could just dig it up next spring and ground layer it an inch or so higher, just above what I think is the graft line. This would obviously set me back a year re creating laterally extending roots, 360 degrees around the base. This year I cut off the majority of this tree's roots (80% of them or so) and I cut down to the cambium everywhere where I did not yet have roots. So, yeah, I was hoping to leave it for a bit but, if there is a graft, I might prefer to just get rid of it sooner rather than later... Thanks for reading!

 

[Pitoon]

Yes it's grafted. 4th pic shows the indentation. It's actually a very low well done graft in my opinion.

 

[Vance Wood]

Yes it's grafted. 4th pic shows the indentation. It's actually a very low well done graft in my opinion.

I agree. Unless you have a JM that is grown from a cutting a named cultivar must be grafted.

 

[Emanon]

I agree. Unless you have a JM that is grown from a cutting a named cultivar must be grafted.

Thanks guys. That confirms it for me. It definitely, 100%, was grafted when I got it. It was my first Japanese Maple. I decided to go cheap and bought the most inexpensive one I could find: on Amazon from a seller with a poor rating. It came and it was badly grafted and the trunk had about half the circumference of a No. 2 pencil, maybe smaller. I was disappointed but decided to bury the graft deep in a plastic pot with regular planting soil. I forgot about it for a few years. Barely watered it. But it grew. When I pulled it out it apeared (at first) that the graft had disappeared. But it looks like it just rooted right below the graft. There is definely no graft any higher than the pictures in my first post show. My first branch is not much higher and it is a beautiful Shin-Deshojo.

The first picture is the tree the spring after I buried it and placed it out of the way. The graft was high and it was buried closer to the top of the pot. Maybe 3/4ths of the way up. I didn't take any pictures of the graft before I buried it. The rest of the pictures are from some of the reviews left for the seller on Amazon. That's roughly the state I received my tree in.

 

[augustine]

You can by J. Maple Cultivars on their own roots at evergreen garden works. The online nursery is owned and operated by trustworthy folks

 

[Mikecheck123]

I'm pretty sure this isn't a shin deshojo, whose main feature is brilliant red new leaves.

But that's par for the course when buying off Amazon. The sellers figure that by the time you're realize you've been had, they'll have moved on. Pretty safe scam.

I bought some wisteria cuttings years back, which were supposed to be some unique variety. Well with wisteria being slow to bloom, it was like a four years later by the time I realized I'd been scammed with some basic plain jane stock plants.

 

[Emanon]

I'm pretty sure this isn't a shin deshojo, whose main feature is brilliant red new leaves.

Sorry for the confusion. It's definitely a shin-deshojo. The other pictures I posted previously in post #4 (beyond the first one) were just examples of how I received the tree -- to show the graft upon receipt. They were pictures of other trees, posted by others, in reviews of the seller on Amazon. I was so unimpressed by this tree when I initially received it that I neglected to take a picture of the graft on my tree. I have another shin-deshojo purchased from Brent at Evergreen Garden Works and the two trees are the same with the exception that this one here seems to have even more brilliant red leaves. Years later I'm actually quite happy with the tree...hence why I might want to get rid of all signs of the rootstock completely.

I'm just not sure how much what remains of this low graft will affect the tree's aesthetic years down the road. What remains of the graft doesn't seem to go around too much more than half the trunk at the present root line. (The other half to 2/3rds of the roots around have rooted, it appears, from the scion shin-deshojo.)

 

[Shibui]

A really low graft like you mow have is rarely a problem. There is usually a natural change of color as any trunk merges into the roots so color there is not an issue. The roots will help swell the base of the trunk so any possible swelling of the graft site is usually hidden when the graft is right near the roots.
Grafting per se is not the real problem in bonsai. There are many great grafted bonsai but many are not really considered because most viewers don't even know there is a graft. The problem is when the graft has very obvious problems and stands out. It is only recently that avoid grafting at all costs has become a bonsai mantra.

 

[Brandonvercnocke]

Thanks guys. That confirms it for me. It definitely, 100%, was grafted when I got it. It was my first Japanese Maple. I decided to go cheap and bought the most inexpensive one I could find: on Amazon from a seller with a poor rating. It came and it was badly grafted and the trunk had about half the circumference of a No. 2 pencil, maybe smaller. I was disappointed but decided to bury the graft deep in a plastic pot with regular planting soil. I forgot about it for a few years. Barely watered it. But it grew. When I pulled it out it apeared (at first) that the graft had disappeared. But it looks like it just rooted right below the graft. There is definely no graft any higher than the pictures in my first post show. My first branch is not much higher and it is a beautiful Shin-Deshojo.

The first picture is the tree the spring after I buried it and placed it out of the way. The graft was high and it was buried closer to the top of the pot. Maybe 3/4ths of the way up. I didn't take any pictures of the graft before I buried it. The rest of the pictures are from some of the reviews left for the seller on Amazon. That's roughly the state I received my tree in.

I bought from this same selling with the same fears and the same situation with the received plant. It does appear to be the correct plant sent to me as well.