I found a blog that had a list of JMs that do well in containers, but I wonder if this refers to the lifetime of the tree or only for the early years? i.e. should one plant after, say, five years? I'd love to have a Osakazuki in a container on my porch, but don't have the room for a 20ft tree in my little yard. http://www.pacificcoastmaples.com/blog/ Scroll down to the container part, and any advice on the subject is welcome. Thanks!
Being a bonsai fan myself, I find the advice given on this blog very sound: the high air content of the soil is important, for my bonsai I basically use a free-drainage mix with about 3 part pozzolane (3-5 mm), 1 part pumice (1-7 mm) and 1 or 2 parts composted pine bark. I have a couple of other maples that I keep in larger containers as ornamental trees, the soil is basically the same, but coarser. It's also important to prune the roots as indicated before the tree becomes pot-bound (about every three years). If well-tended, they can stay in a container for years, and probably decades, but pruning the branches to keep a balance between the roots and the branches may be necessary at some time (to be done at the same time as repotting).
This 'Osakazuki' has been in a pot for at least 10 yrs. It might even be 20. I've forgotten the where and when. You can grow a plant in a pot for a while if you attend to the roots and the soil.
