Here's my situation: I live in Saskatchewan, it is famous for being cold, like... real cold. So I came across Orange Dream and had to have it, now I'm worried about best practices to keep it alive. Should I keep it potted and wrap/mulch/cover it over the winter hidden away in the garage? A coworker suggested i should plant it and try mulching it and then putting a garbage can and snowpack it over the winter. Preferrably it would stay potted for portability sake (and i hope to do some landscaping next spring in the back yard) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, please help me take care of my little friend.
If the temperature in the garage stays above -10°C all winter that would be your best bet for overwintering the container. The threshold for root death of Japanese maples is around the -10°C mark, (the top parts can handle a little colder) as long as the soil stays above this mark it can remain frozen for months without harm. For in ground planting USDA hardiness zone 5 is the limit, I suspect Prince Albert gets colder than that but I don't know for sure.
it can get much colder than -10 (F) here, averaging close to that tho, but overnights can be disasterous. my coworker and i have been shooting ideas around and he thinks i should plant it and cover it in the winter with a tub or something (it's still a baby), then cover the ground with mulch and pack in snow, it would insulate it and wind protect it the garage may end up colder as well but i've heard of someone else putting their in their garage. would the plant do better potted/planted?
Cool, another Canuck!! I'm transplanted to Kansas from Edmonton :) That being said, I understand how cold you're talking about.... I'll throw my 2 bits in, even though I'm no where near as knowledgeable or experienced with maples as many of the others on this site. Everything else being equal, if it's in the ground, the roots definitely have a better chance of surviving than if it were in a pot since the ground itself will help insulate and protect the roots. In a pot, the cold has the ability to get all around - and potentially under - the root ball. That being said, if it's a young tree (how old/big are we talking about), subjecting it to the harsh winter cold and winds may be too much for it at this stage, even with mulching, a trash can (or whatever) over it, etc. One thing you can do, that might be the best of both worlds, is to 'plant the pot', that is find the most sheltered area of your yard - preferably close to the house so it can receive some of the ambient heat given off, or by a hedge, etc - and dig a hole big and deep enough to put the entire pot in it. Mulch like crazy to help protect the root ball. You now have several layers of protection. How cold does your garage get overnight? Is it insulated? I highly recommend checking out evergreengardenworks.com. Brent (the owner) focuses more on bonsai, but many of his articles definitely apply to any potted trees; there are several on overwintering trees, and you will definitely get some good ideas from reading them. I can't find it at the moment, but I know he had one article - or maybe it was a blog post - talking about overwintering trees in the garage and where the best place to keep them was; can't remember if it was on the floor or up higher on a shelf... I seem to recall it being the latter, as I think it was opposite of what you'd do if the tree was left outside (cold air under and around a pot = death). Seek and ye shall find :) If you're still concerned/confused, email him - he's a wealth of information and happy to share it. Hope this helps!
You may want to read the posts in this forum by Zonebreaker who grows maples in Norther Sweden, zone 4. Gomero
wonderful advice thank you very much! the tree isn't a baby at all, its approx 3+ feet tall, i'm hoping thatll give us an extra chance. i want to keep it potted because of plans to landscape later, and dreams of keeping it smaller. what i've got planned using advice from here and from some threads i found elsewhere of people growing in manitoba is i'll likely plant the pot into the ground, mulch, enclose, fill w/ something there's actually a perfect cove right beside the house (3 sides enclosed) that should protect from wind and ideally produce some extra heat in the ground from the house. for an enclosure i'm debating between a large container (trash can or something) or i also have one of those 5' plastic covered greenhouses, i could use that, i feel a container would be better, but onyl if i can find the perfect one to fill up with leaves (and maybe also peat) anymore suggestions would be greatly welcome, if it survives i'll post pictures like crazy
finally found the link to the blog post i was referring to... have a read, he's (Brent, of Evergreen Garden Works) is chock full of info. http://bonsainurseryman.typepad.com/bonsainurseryman/2009/01/freeze-protecton.html#tp good luck with your tree!!! i would be very interested to know how it fared, and what you all did to protect it :)
