So i bought a bunch of Japanese Maples (like two years old) from a online store (very reputable) to graft on them. They looked great and healthy. In September/October I grafted onto them and set them outside under our back deck.

Now, and in checking in on them every once in a while...this is what im seeing: http://1drv.ms/1fUbD5N
http://1drv.ms/1esNSfI

The grafts are obviously dead, have some weird growth on them, a few inches of the tree that I cut into to slide the graft in is dead, and most importantly, now the bottom few inches of the trunk is black and has the same growth growing on them.

Anyone know what this is? If anything can be done?

(The cause cant be the soil because i used the exact same stuff from the same bag in my other potted JM's and they are perfectly fine. It wasnt the blade i used to graft cause it was new and cleaned. It wasnt over watering or anything because if anything i underwatered, only watering a few times over the course of the winter.)