Hi Ron B. Great article. I printed it out for future reference. One reason I only grow maples in containers is that I have rocky sandy loam for soil. Great for my landscape maples, but not for in-ground growing and digging B&B. So 25 years ago I started with my one gallons, then two and on up. Years ago, I purchased dwarf conifers in 1 gallon containers from a wholesale nursery, much to my dismay they were severly root bound and I wouldn't sell them. Live and learn. Anyway, on a different thread we are discussing mycorrhizae beneficial fungi and root production. I plan to take a couple of photos of maples with and without this symbiotic fungi and post them on this thread, as well as the other. Sam
Well, I got my jherter maples today. I ended up getting Goshiki Kotohime and Ukigumo from him. I also wanted Toyoma Nishiki and Esk(imo) Sunset, but at the time they were getting bid up too high. I have good and bad reactions to my purchase from him. Both plants are advertised size or larger, both are well branched, both have lots of nice healthy looking leaf buds. On the other hand, both have a lot of callous at the graft sites (I don't have nearly enough maple experience to really decide how bad this is, but it's my impression that the union should have a cleaner scar). And it looks like he didn't prune off the scion on Ukigumo, so I've got the graft competing with the original scion tree. The scion is actually taller than the graft, but now I'm afraid to prune it off just in case I'm misinterpreting what I'm seeing. Sigh. Overall I am happier with my houseofmaples purchase, but of course it will take a few years to see how the trees end up doing!
Hi Amazondoc, You might want to wait until the Ukigumo leafs out to be sure which is part is the rootstock. I have made the mistake in my haste to get my pruning done. Clean up the graft area and sometimes the maple grows together nicely as it gets more mature and then you don't even notice the graft. Sam
Yeah, I had the same thought about waiting for the leaves. I'm pretty sure I can tell which is which, but I only get one chance to be wrong! ;-) But how do you mean to clean up the graft area? I'm afraid to be shaving around on it.
I use rubbing alcohol and my fingers to sterilize the area. As long as you get any grafting wax off and any remaining rubber bands you should be OK. As the maple grows the callous area would be less conspicious. One thing about bark and grafting where the bark is missing it often becomes a larger lesion as the maple grows. These maples should be OK as long as you are not thinking about bonsai. Thanks and good luck. Sam
No, there's no wax and no rubber bands left. Just what looks to me like excess callous. But thanks for the input!
Back to Ebay sellers. Seller micahj777 sells "bonsai seeds, 18 varietes!." Does that show a complete absence of integrity or am I nitpicking? This bottom feeder says "Your bid will be for ONE acer palmatum------- suminagashi japanese maple ------These are not seedling there 4 years old trees," Vendor declares it's not a seedling, it's 4 yrs old! Feeble attempt at deception.
At the risk of dredging up a discussion which seems to have been amicably resolved, I don't have much of an issue with an established forum member who happens to be a business owner to promote their business on these forums within in-thread discussions as long as it is 1) on-topic and 2) in-response to a query or discussion. Long-time members can also use their signatures to promote their business, as a few have done. In other words, starting a thread with "here's what I have for sale" is not ok, but replying to a thread with "I have that, let me know if you're interested" is ok. Just wanted to point out my approach to the issue. Carry on with the excellent thread!
Hi Daniel, Thanks for jumping in. I know you stay in the loop on all the threads in this forum and I know you will inform me or any other forum member if we step over the line. You perform a valuable service that keeps the experts coming back with more ideas, comments and questions. Best dialogue and information I have found. Sam
I did an inventory today of all my maples, I have lots but what I saw was that in general if I am spending over thirty dollars I am better off buying from someone in the Maple Society. The trees seem to be stronger but more over they are much larger and better branched. Ever one that is somewhat rare came form somewhere other then eBay. I don't think I have one truly rare maple, but maybe next year.
Hi Richard, Let me know when you want me to ship your Geisha. Spring is upon us and my list of shipments is growing for each consecutive Monday. 15 set to go on March 17th. This may seem like a puny amount to some, but to me it is a good week. Sam
Giving due credit--- Bought 3 plants from Herter via Ebay: A.S. 'Aureum', A.B. 'Mino yatsubusa' A.P. 'Villa taranto' $57 including shipping. These were in 4" pots and had more roots than many "1 gals". I was impressed.
I have bought a Shin Deshojo from that ebay member like 2 years ago. It was a healthy tree but they are small trees in 4 inch pots...I'd spend the extra for a 1 gallon...norfork nursery has some good 1 gallon trees for 30 bux.
Ya, I have several Eastfork plants. Sam sells good stuff. Even so Herter's plants were a good value. Gil
I to have bought plants from Sam. Probably 50 or so. She is very knowlegable and her plants are of the highest quality. If you ever get a chance to visit her nursery do so. There are many demonstration gardens and it is just fun to walk through a thousand maples and have so many rare trees in one place. If you buy through her mail order which I have also done I would say her packing job is the best I have seen and I have at one time or another tried 20 nurseries or so. That is until I found Eastfork. She has a great selection of trees available and if you buy from her ebay store the picture you see is the tree you are bidding on which is pretty rare on ebay. The only other nursery I can think of is laceleaf nursery that also does this. Those of you who are chatting in my what is this tree area the fairy hair I show in a picture I got from East Fork, which I noticed she is selling one on ebay right now if anyone wants a fairy hair. To be fair and hopefuly show you I am not just a walking advertisment for East fork nursery, Lace Leaf Nursery also has a good mail order system and good plants (buddy is also my grafting teacher), and Trans-Pacific Nursery also has good plants although mainly 4" 2nd year grafts. I know you and buddy do not get along sam, but it was a misunderstanding. He is not trying to mislead people by using the words lace leaf in his ebay sale's he is only saying that it is from his nursery Lace Leaf nursery and he has said no hard feelings. I noticed he does not have an ebay store this is probably how he idenifies himself. I do see your point to sam but in this case he is just a 77 year old who is set in his ways. *East Fork Nursery * http://www.eastforknursery.com http://stores.ebay.com/Eastfork-Nursery Trans-Pacific Nursery http://www.worldplants.com Lace Leaf Nursery http://www.laceleafnursery.com http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZlaceleafmaples
After all those endorsements it's only right to put in a good word for Bonzai Bob his plants are as nice as Mountain Maples. That is saying something. Gil
Out of curiosity, has anyone had any transactions with ebay sellers "oregongrownnursery" and "acer1987"? I was poking around ebay the other day and saw some interesting maples that I wanted to try out.... but out of fear of getting a twig that will die versus a graft that will actually grow, I just wanted to see if anyone had any dealings with them recently or in the past. Thanks :) Johnny
I have bought from both. Between the two, I would say I prefer acer1987 because they package them better though. Both places have provided good quality plants which have all pushed new growth and are healthly. The 2 year plants I am the happiest with. If I had to choose my favorite ebay sellers that do alot of sales bonzai bob would be #1 and acer1987 would be #2 or #3 with oregongrownnursey coming in top 5. There are some other great sellers yet sometimes they only sell in the fall.
Hi all, I know the owner of Acer1987 - Pam. She provides quality liners with good packaging. Ebay has changed their rules to favor the buyer and not the sellers. Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback. I have been ripped off twice and I can tell you from a small nursery operation standpoint it hurts. I may stop listing larger specimen JMs because of the risk and start selling liners like everyone else. Actually, I will list a couple today - one being First Ghost. Instead of buyer beware. It is now seller beware because all of the scammers and ready and able to take advantage of the new ebay policies. Sam
Hey Sam, Yeah I saw that notice from ebay.. Sorry they did that because I think sellers should be able to leave negative feedback if a buyer takes too long to pay or is ripping you off. It just bothers me to see great sellers like you affected like that... I hope your 100% positive feedbacks continue to stay that way because it should =] Johnny
I've rarely had issues with buyers or sellers and I've been both myself. 500+ transactions Ebay though can't get out of it's own way -- abysmal customer support, flaccid fraud protection and what feels to me like a culture of organizational greed.
Yes, eBay has been a way for me to get through the off season - winter and late summer. But I have already had to refund money even though the buyer received my maples - they say they didn't!! A double bummer. So I will down size to liners and 1 gallons to minimize my risk. I think I will only allow previous good buyers to bid on my maples. What do you guys think????
