@LoverOfMaples, you are having an amazing seed year D. How on earth do you thin these out. Need more room D !!!! Lol
Great trees, a favourite for bonsai enthusiasts. They can stand a lot of mistreatments or misfortune, they heal faster than other species, are more tolerant to alkaline soil/water than A. palmatum and have wonderful Autumn colours. The flaking bark of mature specimens, showing different colours is very interesting too. Since it can stand (heavy) pruning, it can be used as a garden tree with an interesting shape, like a "niwaki". To me, a must for all maple enthusiasts...
Yes very true @AlainK @Acerholic it pretty easy. I've already separated and potted some for bonsai and to go on as garden trees. They are tough like Alain said. I can separate them at anytime of the year while they are this small and they never skip a beat. I also use Superthrive and fish emulsion for the first week after repotting.
Hi kg. Those are in a cat litter bins from the dollar store, nothing fancy. Then from there into these trays in the sec pic.
Ah, for a Dollar Store! Very un-French concept. I already got the idea about using disposable aluminum baking tins as seed trays from Alain on this thread. That's my new method, I've been using lousy plastic trays that are expensive and don't last. @LoverOfMaples , D when are you sowing the buergerianum seed? I've read "best sown fresh" but am not sure what that means without a greenhouse. I've germinated plenty but usually only a small percentage. They grow well in pots but really dislike being either too-wet or too-dry once planted out.
I got a high percentage from seeds bought from Semences du Puy. Either stratified in the fridge(at least 80%), or directly sown in trays and left outside (60-70%). Since there are plenty in a packet, one could plant a forest. When I was a kid, there used to be such stores : "Tout-à-cent-francs", or "Tout-à-un-franc" after 1958 (1). They disappeared when I was in my teens, in the late sixties. But about 10 years ago, a shop opened "Tout à un €uro". Actually, a lot of things were more than 1 €. Almost everything came from China - even the shop owners. It closed a couple of years ago. (1) When the €uro replaced the franc in 1999, some elderly people would still count in "anciens francs". A bit like some people in the UK that felt more at ease with inches and feet twenty years later. They were hooked to LSD (Librae, Solidii, Denarii) LOL [End of the cultural digression ^_^]
I may just be collecting at the wrong time, though I'm following the general instructions in Dirr etc. We have a number of mature ones, they make a huge amount of seed. Ha, my neighbors still count in ancient francs. And my British cousin is the head of the "Keep our Pounds and Ounces" group. Really!
In England we have £ stores that sell a lot of things for £1 that really cost 10p. But now and again there is something in there that is useful and especially for the gardener. I would always say have a look first before spending triple elsewhere. @AlainK, now the 60's, what a decade, I was a teenager then as well, but unlike some, I can honestly say I can remember it. I use feet and inches as well and still look back at LSD with some fond memories. That's Pound, Shillings and Pence btw, Lol
I know : when I starting learning English (at age 11), I wondered why a Pound had an L as a symbol, my teacher explained it to us. But I was so bad at maths that I never managed to calculate the price of two items in pounds, shillings and pence. By the way, how do you pronouce the name of this rugby player, "Leigh Halfpenny" ? something like "heypni" or... ? ;°D You know, I'm a millionaire : I have a 1,000,000 pound banknote ! Turkish lira (in French either "livre", or "lire") given to me by a Turkish friend, after 2005.
@AlainK, think you could be right Alain, Lol. I think we are all millionaires in some currency around the world. Trouble is it's not here in the UK for me, Oh the maples I could buy !!!!!
Hey @emery. I pretty much do as @AlainK. I normally collect around the end of Sept-Oct. Soak for 12 to 24 hrs, then the fridge they go for about 60-90 days.
A few of my seedlings posted previously in this thread were unfortunately exposed to some rather hard rain that now has them falling every which way but straight. I feel as though most are still too small to stake, but maybe I’m mistaken. What do you all do with small seedlings that aren’t standing how they need to be? Let them be till a little larger and able to be staked? Or something else? Kyle
If they were mine, I'd be thinking seriously of repotting them into slightly larger, individual pots where you can set them in nice and straight. Whatever you do, you should do it fairly soon before those bent over start developing crooked trunks.
@kgeezy20, good morning Kyle, if they are very small I would leave them be until next year. I don't like to disturb my maple seedlings for the first three years. Do consider some protection against the hard rain. Nothing worse than soggy compost for very young plants in pots or seed trays. If they are badly falling over then some gentle re positioning may have to be done. But in nature they always find a way of reaching for the light.
