I have a nice Acer shirasawanum near my house which is full of nice seeds. Does anybody has already try to sow this type of seeds ? Do they have a good germination rate ? Are they easy to grow ? Thank you
I collected some seed last year from a local nursery, stratified per normal methods, and had much lower germination rates than with palmatum seed. I hope to be able to grow a couple into the next years. First year growth was less than with palmatum, too, lacking a second flush. This is a limited report from one year, so not very scientific.
Thank you Jacquot ! Here are the seeds as they are today (sorry for the poor quality of the "phonemade" picture). Do you think it's better to harvest now or let it dry some more on the tree ?
I harvested mine dry, and I think that is what is generally recommended. I've only done this two years myself, but last year I made a point of collecting Shirasawanum. By the way, do you get good fall colors in the Paris region? It is a good deal milder than New York. I have close relations in Montesson, by the way, but sadly with no maples!
In fact, I have only one year experience in this matter because I didn't know anything about maples 2 years ago. Last year was so-so and I had some nice colors only by the end of november. Here is a standard palmatum on November 18th, 2004
