What is the nursery's name?
Is that a bud that is currently opening at center-left? Are there live buds at the top of the tree not shown in the picture?

What's happening above? Is that the trunk of the graft ? If not, then its pretty feeble for a 3 year old graft.

tj

I got it from a vendor on Amazon. Japanese Maples and Evergreens. Of course now this tree is listed as currently unavailable. And yes Val, that is a bud sprouting from the graft. I've attached a pic of the "whole" thing. TJ, I have no idea what's happening there. I'm completely new to JM, having bought my first one, from the same vendor, a month or so ago. That was a 2 year graft I think and was completely healed over and bigger, though not in any real significant way. The tree next to this one was shipped in the same box and is supposed to be a 2 year seiun kaku per the handwritten label that was on it. Is it possible they mixed them up? But I'm just concerned about the viability of the graftling and wondering if I need to take extra measures to increase its chance of survival. My email to the company has gone unanswered so Amazon will likely refund my money.

The photos are difficult to make any sense of. It would be helpful to see the tree in its entirety as well as the graft union from other angles.

It does look a litte too fresh and undersized for a 3 year graft. It also looks like it is still covered in wax, which would be unusual after 3 years. But I have acquired trees with iffy grafts before (never paid for them, tho) that survived just fine and did well. In fact, I have one, Kamagata, that is now going on 12 years or so since I acquired it and it looks perfectly normal and grows well.

Just an FYI, but if you continue to collect JM's, do try to search them out from reputable vendors. Your supplier gets very poor reviews from the Garden Watchdog for poor quality plants, unauthorized substitutions and terrible customer service and carries an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau. And their prices are not all that great for what they are selling either.

Your first photo sure does look like a very fresh graft.

Gardengal, thanks for the garden watchdog site. I will definitely use that going forward. I've attached more photos of the entire tree and the graft.

I would also refrain from ordering from amazon and try finding a local nursery or at least order from a reputable nursery. Not saying you got taken advantage of but I would prefer to see what I'm getting.

I see very vigorous growth!

That is eihter a last summer graft that is awakening or spring graft that has not yet completely healed. On the photo mines are 40 days since grafting

So I am pretty sure that the graftling is not a Beni Maiko. I think this might be the Seiun Kaku? I thought it was mislabeled when I saw the buds weren't red. But being new to JM, I thought the leaves still might come out red. The Seiun Kaku was supposed to be a 2 year graft which I believe if they considered a graft that's entering the 2nd growing season = 2 year graft.

And if the above wasn't the Beni Maiko, then I didn't receive one because this was the plant labeled as the Seiun Kaku. Do you think this might be a Beni Kawa instead?

I get some from e-bay seller Acer1987 and have always received great trees! He has around 200 different cultivars. Their last years ratings were almost 1500 positive reviews with only 3 neutral and 3 negatives. The NEGS were all "not the tree in the picture" or "smaller than the one pictured". It goes without saying that you don't get the exact tree pictured as they have 5-10 of each of 200 types! I'd say they have more to do than have to manage 1000 or so individual pictures. Anyhow, look them up, I HIGHLY recommend them!