I was poking about under my large Seiryu maple examining the Iris shoots when to my surprise I spotted a small seedling about 3 inches tall that had a couple of leaves extended. I was surprised that the seedling already had 2-3 leaves partially extended since the large maple was only starting to bud (??). At any rate, I was not sure what it was so I yanked at it lightly and it came out of the soil with 3 tiny stringers of roots—so I quickly transferred to a pot to see if I can continue to grow it. It must be a mini-maple as I cannot imagine it being anything else with it’s little green twig of a trunk and tell-tale leaves. A little more looking around and I was able to find 2 more seedlings that were even larger (about 5 inches tall—don’t know how old this makes them??? The funny thing is I was trying to figure out how to harvest and sprout the seeds in peat bags in the fridge this coming year, and to my surprise none of that appears necessary as I can just dig out miniature seedlings from under my large Seiryu. Funny how nature works eh? So I have one seedling in a pot and two more still in the ground (I may let them grow another year and then try potting them. At any rate, I have marked them so I know where they are. I'll post photos when the digital is functional. Any advice on growing a small seedling in a pot appreciated.
I was going to pot them, but I find potting to be more difficult as you have to worry about placement of the pot and having enough water (pots dry out quickly). I have killed several promising plants in pots. As they are the seedlings are on top of a huge bed of iris. on a bank with good drainage. They will also get hit by my sprinkler irrigation. I was hoping that in a year or two I could move them directly to a new home in the ground. How old should they be? But pots. . . What type of soil? How big a pot? What conditions? These things drive me mad whenever the plant is the least bit finicky. Tomatoes are easy--but I have no experience with maple seedlings. ?? ?
I've got several nice Japanese maples that came from seedlings. One is a Bloodgood that has deep red leaves that keep their color all summer, just like the grafted versions. I have grown it in a pot for several years but will probably plant in the ground this year. The other is a Trompenburg that a friend gave me last summer. It is still very small (8" tall) but also kept its color well through the summer. Not sure yet whether it will develop the characteristic leaves with rolled edges. I had another nice Bloodgood seedling that had leaves variegated green & red, but I gave that one to a friend.
You can leave them in the ground as long as you remember they are there when weeding ;o)). This year I have zillions of seedlings popping out all over the place in my garden (warm winter???). Even in the most akward places like a (highly alkaline) gravel path with no dirt. When one reads about all the pain some people take to succeed with seeds...., nature shows that it is, after all, very easy. The fun part of it is to watch them develop and select the most interesting. Gomero
This is very true isn't it. I actually poked around a bit more and found 2 more seedlings that have sprouted--so I think there is a total of 5 (one in a pot now). Maybe I can grow them a bit and pot them all, and trade with other like minded individuals in Vancouver or the Lower Mainland who have extras?? Cheers Tony
I would also have to agree with Gomero. In all of the years that I marked the seeds from cultivars and sowed them in trays in my greenhouse, nothing has produced results like nature. The pictures below are of a seed bed under a row of mixed Japanese Maple cultivars. Photo Seedlings1 shows about 6 feet of a 90 foot bed. Seedling2 is a longer view and Seedling3 shows the lawn outside the bed. The dark spots are red seedlings and typically you get about 10 to 1 ratio of green to red. You will need to click on the photos to see the seedlings. I loose too much detail when I compress the pictures Ed
Does anyone know what the chances are for growing a one of my Seiryu seedlings outside to maturity? Any tips? I guess I'll leave it in the ground until next year at least. I live in the pacific northwest, but I take it that many of these maples are grafted because of problems with the root vigor. The 4-5 seedlings themselves (which I may post pictures of when the digital is fixed) are all a little different (in terms of leaf coloring). Instead of the red border on the outer edges of the leaves (I guess this is characteristic of Seiryu) one seedling is showing leaves that are almost all red and a little less deeply dissected like the Seiryu parent. Does this mean that the leaves will always be this way, or are they likely to change? Cheers Tony
Regarding your seedlings: You could pot them up to small 4" containers in oridnary bagged potting mix with a time-released fertilizer and sink the pot into a large planter that has other flowers in it. This way the pot should stay moist much easier. Your very best option if to place it in a shade area with shade plants now that I've gathered my thoughts. Check the root-system this fall and if necessary (white tips emerging from the bottom of the pot), up-plant it to a quart/gallon size pot. If your climate is mild (zone 8 or above), just be sure the plant is out of the way of rabbits, etc. Fence it in if you need to do so. I say all this because I think it's important to plant woody plants with at least a quart/gallon size root system. If you agree, plant your palmatum X 'Seiryu' #1, #2, etc - from this size container. Watch the critters still. Dax
Here, as promised are several pictures of the different seedlings growing under what I think is my Seiryu tree (see ID'ing post above). I have since found many more, but these others are all first year and very small. I find it strange that the edges of the leaves on most of the seedling are quite red (is this normal?). Also, one of the seedling looks like it has very traditional maple leaves that are not deeply cut at all, but very square (see pic)--why is this? Any comments, observations on these seedlings (age, color, leaf shape etc. appreciated). Thanks
Number two looks like another species. Do you have a sycamore in the area? Difficult to tell at this size. Seiryu can be red edged when leafing out, though of course there is going to be much variation in seedlings. In the other ID thread the stems looked rather japonicum-like to me, also. -E
All seedlings should be labled as follows: Acer X 'Seiryu' #1, #2 etc- The more trees around exchanging pollen when flowering together the more emphasis on the times "X". Dax
Fair enough, but there are only two green trees around exchanging pollen--my two Seiryu's. I take it red acers cannot cross into green ones?? Or can they?
Here's some of my crosses from a guy's garden with an enormous collection of different species, etc- Dax
Some close-ups of ones I considered fun for certain characteristics such as dwarfing attributes, leaf shape, leaf color, etc- Dax
I could photograph more. I have some real interesting ones. These were preliminary photos from a week or so ago. All were planted at the same time pretty much. I have some real beauties. Dax And of course. I'll keep what I consider nice and the rest I'll probably use for grafting rootstocks...
very neat. My plan wa to keep what looks interesting--maybe let them grow under the tree for a year or two then dig up and transplant.
