Hello and Thank You! I’m new to the forum, but I’ve been reading the maple threads and your comments and advice have been very helpful to me. I’ve been a long time admirer of Japanese maples, and about a year and a half ago, I finally found the courage to start growing and caring for them. I have 6 in containers and one in the yard, and so far so good. It could still be better, but I’m learning. I’m seeking advice about my yard maple, which I’ve attached a picture of. Is it detrimental to a maple to transplant it from the landscape to a container? This maple, which stands at about a little over 6 feet, came with this little house I got over 2 years ago. I’m not sure what maple it is, but my guess is it’s a bloodgood. For the 2 years I’ve lived here, it had severe leaf burns. It sits in the hottest part of the yard, plus it gets windy. I tried a few things, but on the 2nd year the new growth was already burned. Leaves fell off prematurely, blah, blah...you know how it gets. I had to keep trying, so during its last dormant season, in between regular waterings, I watered it with a sparing amount of protekt silicon. I did my winter pruning, checked around its soil regularly, looked at its branches every other day, etc., and this spring the new leaf growth was beautiful (the pic taken during its first growth). I was happy and even more inspired. I even tried to beat the usual insect infestation by checking the ground and under the leaves right before our summer weather kicked in ( and I’m a bit queasy with bugs). I have crazy pictures of eggs under leaves. ANYWAY – this year, the winds are really strong. Because it’s a courtyard, the winds whip around the four walls and the maple gets a pretty good whipping too. Sometimes, the maple all of a sudden is almost green because the leaves are turned over and you see the green undertones. I did discover that this year it has samaras. It only has 3 samaras. Its never had it before, I’ve been watching it carefully hoping to save the samaras. So sure enough, leaf burn has started again. I feel I can do more for the maple if its in a container, like give it the proper soil other than the crappy clay soil the bay area has. There’s nowhere else in the yard to move it. Plus, I’ve decided I won’t be in this house past the end of next year, and though at first I thought the yard trees will always stay with the house, that yard maple is too much a part of me now. Can I do it? If yes, I know it has to be dormant, but are there other things I should know of, to do it right? I hope to do it this coming winter. My apologies for the long thread.
In addition to your hot winds, you are getting some reflected heat form the house which makes it even harder. I grew a similar plant in a similar situation and it did okay, but I did not have the winds, which can be the last straw. I would dig it in the sring as or just before the buds swell. Since the rootball will be of different texture, I would try to wash or soak the roots to remove the heavy soil and put it in a pot just a couple inches wider than the rootball. You have a pretty small tree and I think you can do this with relative ease and a little patience. A fast draining humus-rich mix for the first year or two will be great. Good luck and thanks for carefully considering the problem. You are on the right track. MJH
Reflective heat from the walls, is a really good point. Thank you so much for the info, and most especially the vote of confidence. I'm making my checklist already. gcs
Judging from sun and wind, you are perhaps in the Mission or Noe Valley? With a very moderate bit of shelter those should none the less be good places to grow this maple in the ground. The sun in SF being relating and with a good amount of coastal haze even in sunny neighborhoods. Perhaps this guy just hasn't been in the ground long enough to get used to his location? It can take a while... Otherwise, could you imagine doing something else to protect it, like growing something up the side of the house (bougainvillia?) Ah, looked again, I see you are moving and want to take the tree. In that case make sure you follow Rima's advice and wait til spring or at very least fall after leaf drop. Trees get moved from ground to containers all the time, so no reason it shouldn't work for you.
I'm actually more SOMA downtown. Close to the Embarcadero. The little plant box slightly in the photo in the right is actually bougainvillia. It used to be located to the left of the maple, but that area is shady because of a tree in the foreground and it just never grew that much and barely flowered. The area where the maple sits and to the right of it is where it stays hot the longest, thats why I moved the bougainvillia to the right because that area gets the most sun, but as you can see, not a landscape area. The good spring maple growth may have been better because we had a long coool rainy period before our warmer spring weather really came. The Bay Area is weird that way, I can never really go by the general season rules because our spring and summer don't exactly happen when its supposed to. I had one maple in a container that was just so eager to let its leaves out that it was budding in December. Then we had a good sunny day or two 1st week of January and it just leafed out. Then the rains came back with the fog and it stopped, but it was still slowly trying to leaf out. Meanwhile, my other container maples kept back until April, and it was a slow leafing out process. I don't really fertilize alot because I tend to baby step when I'm not too sure. One advice I was given when I started my maple affair was too just pay attention, and it's been helping so far. I will definitely wait on this transplant project. Its good I'm learning more about exactly when is the best time. I just knew that generally it was good to wait when it was dormant, but now I know spring before bud bud break. Thanks so much.
Over here we would always wait until late autumn to transplant, when the plant is dormant That way it gets settled into its new home for a month or so before it gets the idea of coming back to life again If you are going to try it in spring, then make sure that it is early spring and that you get the plant before it has even thought of starting to bud out, otherwise you will stress it too much and maybe lose it It does look, however, to be a fairly large plant to move with any degree of success
