"Father Haskell" wrote in message
...
On Aug 21, 9:46 pm, "symplastless" wrote:

"Father Haskell" wrote in
...
Girlfriend's mom has a beautiful 50 year old red maple which was
mutilated by an ignorant "tree surgeon." A lower branch was
reduced to stubs after said tree butcher decided the branch got
in people's way; apparently, stooping or simply walking around
the offending branch was too difficult. The tree is disfigured,
removed of the graceful, Japanese form provided by the lower
growth. No meristem or buds were left to regenerate into new
branches. All wounds are distant from branch collars, and will
likely rot unless corrected.

Can the tree be restored by taking a few branches from high
up, where they won't be missed, and grafting them into the
stubs?

Plan would be to end graft. Cut back a stub to still-green
cambium, split it, and wedge in a couple of slips, being careful
to maintain contact between cambium layers. Tie and
seal as recommended. A year from now, cut out the weaker
of the two slips and let the stronger one continue as the new
leader. Branches are not being grafted into trunks -- into which
I'd first have to graft collars -- they are being grafted into other
branches, to xylem and phloem. No different, really, from
how apple trees are grafted onto crab rootstocks, as when
dwarfing them.


Good luck, sounds like a plan, but, don't be disappointed.