Hello, I have three Japanese Red Maple trees in my yard, and in the spring there were many seedling scattered about my yard. I have planted about ten and put them under my aerogarden light and they are now growing second and third pairs of foliage leaves but they are still only about one and a half inches tall. I was wondering how to keep them alive in pots, and which is better for them, a grow bulb or real light. I dont get much light in my yard, and I want to plant them near my house (when they get bigger) and I was wondering how much light and water they would need outside, and if it would be possible to grow small japanese red maples outside in massachuesetts due to the cold, the snow, and the wind.-Thanks for the help
Re: *** red maples hi connor baby maples grown in green house!!the sun ligth is better ,but if possible covered in central hour of the day..
Re: *** red maples Hi Connor, It's perfectly possible to grow Japanese maples outside in MA, small or large. The one's you have potted will need shelter in the winter, at least fo ra while. Any unheated garage will do, or space where the temp stays above > -15 F approximately. You could put them directly in the ground in a sheltered space. They won't resent being buried in the snow. I believe Alex is talking about production, but of course in Japan seedling maples grow through the winter in the wild, and the climate is quite similar to Massachusetts. Have fun, -E
Re: *** red maples the temperature issue is quite clouded. see the thread on surviving the cold (JM), it is quite extensive, with people listing what survived through winters in various temperatures. i was told the 'garage' temp. should be above 15F, which made storing trees there inadvisable. if it is fifteen below zero F, that would be very good news for me. debviolet, amherst, ma, zone 5 or even 6! according to some maps
Re: *** red maples Yes, apologies. Vertrees (3rd) says that the roots freeze below 14 F (-10 C), so normally plants in the ground are good to -18C (0F). This was the source of my confusion: not used to thinking in Fahrenheit anymore. I suspect actually that a lot of the variability comes from the root stock. This past winter saw killing temperatures here, far below anything we might otherwise expect. We saw around -20C a couple of nights. I have lost many maples, others are damaged. The predictable losses like Sango kaku, tutcherii, discolor, but also an established Eddisbury; by all accounts a very hardy plant. In fact it was not the Eddisbury at all that died, but rather the understock; the graft followed soon after of course. Interestingly I have 4 Eucalyptus grown from high altitude collected seed, which all survived. Regardless, debviolet, if you look around western Mass you will see many mature and beautiful palmatums in the ground, so it's certainly possible to grow them in your location, all though container culture is always trickier. (My wife's family is in western MA so I visit pretty frequently.) -E
Re: *** red maples very interesting point about the root stock. i wonder if people listed what trees survived winters according to root stock, rather than cultivar what that list might look like...debviolet
