staking advice?

I stumbled upon this forum and have been lurking ever since! What a great resource. I'm not only new to Japanese maples but new to gardening altogether, so questions may seem a little "green". I took the plunge and got several 1-2 year grafts and have just planted them.

The question that I have is about staking. From what I have gleaned, it is a matter of personal preference but may be more helpful with weeping or cascading trees; so... I was planning on staking the omurayama and filigree, but perhaps leaving the wilson's pink and kamagata alone. Does this sound right?

Are there any general tips about staking? What do you use for ties? How deep do you stake? This probably sounds overcautious but I just don't want to damage these delicate little trees. Thanks,

 

How big are they?
Have you a pic?

 

They are small 12-18". Thanks for the response I'll try and take some pictures this weekend and post them.

 

At that size i wouldn't stake any of the trees at this stage
As it develops, if you want an upright tree and the leader isn't strong enough you could stake with a small bamboo cane to encourage it upwards

 

By the way I looked at your website at your omurayama and kamagata - amazing stuff!

 

Ok, here goes - here my little Wilson's and omureyama. I tried this out in the test forum so hopefully it works. I haven't had a chance to post the filigree but that's the one that I was thinking about posting. One of the larger branches broke off in transit, so it has one large branch that goes off to the side - it looks like a crane

 

paxi,

While I like the look of your container in the first photo, I would be wary of using any container with a narrowing top. If the root ball grows bigger that the opening on the top of the container, it will be impossible to remove the tree.

xman

 

Thanks xman - On the outide the container narrows but the tree itself sits in a straight cylinder shape. Another container I have though has a inner "lip" which could make things tricky....