Hi everyone, I have found this place to be a great source of knowledge and information. Love all the wonderful pictures and discussions. So I recently made my first purchases over the fall. Mail ordered a couple of tube sizes. Prior to that I have never grown a single thing in my life. Here they are now. Red Dragon and Skeeter's Broom. Already have made a couple of rookie mistakes. Was probably over watering a little too much. That or the soil/pot did not drain well enough. The soil was too moist which led to a bug problem. Tiny little white bugs in the soil which looked like aphids and tiny little caterpillar looking things. A little leaf damage on the Skeeter's Broom so I switched out soil. Currently growing everything on pots using potting soil from Home Depot. For those with experience...any tips on avoiding bugs? Made these two purchases the other day. Can someone help positively identify them please? Got them for a pretty decent price but the seller didn't know much about them. Almost certain the red one is a Skeeter's Broom and I think the other is prob an Orange Dream? Anyhow, thanks for looking. Please excuse my newbness lol! We all have to start somewhere. Still working on the yard so have yet to plant them in the ground.
Welcome to the JMAC - Japanese Maple Addicts' Club!! Trust me, you won't stay at 4 trees for long, lol. Last spring I had two, as of tomorrow I will have 38 (three more are coming in the mail). All in pots. :D I cannot even begin to suggest what cultivars the two unknowns are, I'll leave that to those that know far more than I, but I will chime in about your soil. Obviously, every climate is different, and every tree will react differently and have different requirements, but I can 99% guarantee that you will have to repot your trees - potting soil is much, much to rich and 'dense' for maples. Even the soils labeled tree and shrub are typically too water-retentive for maples, effectively drowning them and/or encouraging root-rot, etc. Find a good tree and shrub soil that has a fair bit of bark in it, add in some extra composted pine bark, some chicken grit, turface or haydite (also known as calcined clay).... Basically, you want a soil mix that, while retaining water, doesn't remain water-logged; you want it free draining, but not so much that you have to water 5 times a day either. It takes a bit of playing around to figure out what works best for your climate and trees. Depending on the size of your pot and tree, you should have to water every 2-3 days or so during the growing season. I am also into bonsai, which some of my maples will end up being, so this influences my soil mixture and amendments, to a large degree. Living in Wichita, KS, our summers get very hot and fairly humid, so what I use is equal parts fine pine bark (basically, anything smaller than the huge chunks of mulch that is typical at the garden centers; 1/4"-1" in size is best, for me at least), and Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting soil (has perlite in it, which helps with drainage); then I add in about 1/4 of the total amount of Fox Farm's Soil Conditioner, and sometimes a little cotton boll compost - that's my organic component. Then, so it ends up comprising about 1/3 to 1/2 the total mixture amount, I add in equal parts haydite (fired clay 'pellets' that are about 1/4"-1/2" in diameter), kanuma (an acidic form of haydite, same size - maples like it a little on the acidic side), and fine chicken grit (basically granite chips that are about 1/8"-1/4" in diameter). One of our bonsai club members has recently found a local retailer that sells turface, which - according to some bonsai enthusiast sites - is the be-all and end-all when it comes to soil amendments. I plan to give this a try with some of my new plants this year. It soaks up water like crazy, supposedly, but doesn't remain waterlogged, if that makes any sense. I'm sure others will chime in with what works for them, and there are several threads addressing this topic, so do a bit of reading, and play around a bit to find out what works best for you and your trees. :)
