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I have some red maple trees in a planter on my balcony. One of these branched right at the lowest part of the trunk, almost right after I got it. This branch grew almost to the same size as the existing tree itself. The perculiar thing is that this branch is completely green while the leaves of the main branch keep their usual red color. See the picture below.

enter image description here

My Questions:

  1. How can this be explained? Maybe a possible side effect of interbreeding different plants?
  2. Should I remove it? I never paid it any mind since the plants all looked fine and I somehow liked the look. However, recently, the leaves in the red part of the tree started to wither in large numbers while the ones in the green part look better than ever. I've two more red maples planted next to this one which look fine, so it's unlikely due to weather or wrong fertilization. It almost occurs to me that the green part is depriving the red part of necessary nutritions.
user3792852
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1 Answers1

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Like many nursery trees, yours must have been grafted onto a robust Green-Leaf Japanese Maple tree.

Your first clue is "branched right at the lowest part of the trunk." That's the green-leaf rootstock or trunk. Take a deep breath and cut it out completely, either soon or whenever convenient. Pruning for aesthetics is okay at any time.

The weeping branches and feathery red leaves are what you paid for. The green leaves are part of the tree's history.

enter image description here

Yosef Baskin
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    Yes, it had to be something like that. Then I'll cut it away. Can I do this now (mid-July) or should I wait until late summer of autum? – user3792852 Jul 10 '23 at 16:24