Japanese Maples

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well its time to prune the maples of any size this month before the growth hardens off. just pruned part of our Maple forest yesterday and have the largest Dissectum out front to do. the 4 J. maples in the backyard are done though watching one limb which looks terrible and the growth sporadic up and down the major branch - will probably just prune the whole thing off. I also noticed that snails luv new seedling leaves as all mine are stripped right off the little buggers, but as long as they are watered they may re-sprout in our area in July, have noted that on larger specimens due to non-water and sunburn severities
 
To Erich and any others who may be interested. Saturday [1/10/09] I
volunteered to move a Japanese maple for a friend. Her neighbor didn't
want it and my friend did. The tree was moved about 200 yards. It was
an all day job. At this point I do not know what variety of Japanese
maple it is. I will know when it leafs out. It's about 7 foot tall, about 8
years old and was a bear to move. The Buick is my bride's...

Charles
 

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Charles that Baby has a gorgeous shape and branch structure, planting looks real good my friend, congrats it should do well.........light fertilizer to stimulate growth in March before total leaf expansion
 
With all here Charles. I admire you for the patience that you have for these JMs.The one looks great.
 
GrauGeist said:
Way to go, Charles!

I have to agree with Erich, that is a good looking JM.

The soil there must not be all that alkaline, as the leaves look tan where they should have a bit more color...
Click to expand...


Actually, GG, the leaves that are on the tree are dead, they just havn't blown
away yet. The tree is in total dormancy. I'll know about the middle of March
if the move was successful, when she starts to bud out.

Charles
 
don't be surprised you get a couple weeks delay longer than normal, I say that in reference to the many plantings I have done in January/February over the years, and you probably know this but the gal should expect smaller than normal leaves come spring and summer till those roots get going in 2 years or maybe even more
 
I'm hoping in late March it will have budded out. It had a lot of large
[stability] roots, which help hold the tree up. I had to cut quite a few of
these, but no shorter that the drip line. Almost all the smaller roots,
expecially the hairy ones [feeder roots] we left intact. I started digging on
one side, then dug under the tree, rather that around it. We're all hoping for
a successful move.

Charles
 
Ok Charles, wasn't sure about the leaves...it's hard to tell sometimes from a photo, and the trees here often experience fall late.

I do remember when I was a kid, Mom had a few Japanese Maples in the yard, and at the onset of fall, she'd use stuff like sugar and whatnot to force the JMs to produce amazing colors when they turned.

 
Some time last October, Erich send me about 100 seeds from his Japanese
Maples. After I received them, on Oct 29, 2008, I soaked them in warm
water for 24 hours, then put them into Zip Loc bags in moist peet moss,
and tossed them into the fridge. This process is called "stratification".
What is boils down to is trying to convince the seed that winter has come,
by placing it in the fridge for 90 to 120 days. Soaking the seed just makes
the seed pod soft, and easier to germinate.

Tonight I was puting away some cokes, and just took a quick glance at one
of the bags. Did I see something white in that bag ??? Sure did !! The
attached pic is what a seed looks like when it sprouts. That little white
tail is a root, looking for some moist soil. This particular seed is already in
a pot. I'll post more pic's as they break ground.

Matt.... take notice....

Charles
 

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Here is a pic of the seed as it now appears. I waited til it got it's true leaves. It will lose it's 'baby leaves' as the
true leaves get bigger. The container is what is called a "cone-tainer". They are used by the US Forresty Service
for pine trees. I have one container that holds 200 seedlings.

Right now I have about 100 seedlings from the batch that Erich sent me from the two trees in his yard in Oregon.

Charles
 

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Right now it's in the garage under a flourescent light. After the weather
breaks it will go outside with it's brothers and sisters.

Charles
 
Chalres I will be really curious how the older leaves come on if they hopefully will take on the character of the mother plant and not some such typical Palmate form of the J. maples. My maples in the yard are still fast asleep though it has been close to 70F here the last 2 days but is suppose to cool way down for the weekend.
 
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