Hi all, This past year I was more serious than usual about sprouting seed, mainly thanks to a magisterial shipment of dried fruit from our own Ed. (Thanks again Ed!) I planted in flats, and so expect some more next spring, too. The seedlings were transplanted to small 2x2 inch square pots in June. The result is I have about 150 good looking viable seedlings ranging from a couple of inches to a couple of feet tall. Most are palmatum, although there are some shirasawanum or japonicum and a couple of pseudosieboldianums. Most will be given away but of course some will find a way eventually into my garden, or be planted around the property somewhere. The question is, should these be transplanted now, or wait for dormancy? Normally I'd say the latter but some of the vigorous ones are showing signs of pot stress. Also I'm afraid that if I leave them in the tiny pots the roots might freeze. What to do? I also have some interesting saccharinum, pseudoplatanus and tartaricum ssp ginalla seedlings that are in the same boat more or less. Thanks, -E
emery, well done. I like your idea of 2X2 pots. I put 2 seedlings in 4X4 pots but I lost more than I wanted to lose last winter I believe because of the heavy rains we had keeping the soil too wet. This year I mixed in lots of perlite with the soil and we'll see if that helps. I say this in case your seedlings are outside in the rain - I think smaller pots are better for moisture control but then I do not have much of a problem with cold temps. I had a mouse eat many of the seeds that did not germinate this year. He got into my greenhouse by eating thru a thin wire mesh screen and went thru 90 trays leaving just the discarded seed husks on the soil surface. He's cute but very destructive to my purposes so I need to come up with some way to prevent this when I plant in late Feb/early March - probably I will use a heavier wire mesh on the trays so they get light and I can water but the rodents can't get to the seeds unless they eat thru the plastic trays.
