Seed growing Japanese Maple Experiment

[JimmyBanks]

Looking great! Hope they make it through the summer!

[TimS]

They seem to be pretty happy under the shade cloth in the carport which is about 30% cut i believe. Up and beyond 40 degrees the have been outside underneath it, i haven't moved them indoors or done anything beyond water them to help them through.

The weakest ones have suffered but that was to be expected, the majority are looking excellent with no leaf scorch at all and very strong growth. I culled another 20-30 of the weakest remaining today, including those that had had the central bud die, those with only two pairs of leaves with sun damage, and any others that just looked sub-par to my eye. Only around 80 remain in tubes now, but the are unlikely to need to be potted up until next year as they are small but outwardly appear to be healthy.

This photo is indicative of an average size for the majority of the seedlings that i have potted up so far. There are some taller than it and some shorter but it is a good indication none the less.



Overall view of the 2018 batch mid-summer.

[MJL]

As a bloke with an inclination to forests .... this last photo is click bait! [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND TIGHTLY-CLOSED EYES]

Great job with these Tim. Top stuff and thanks for the updates.


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[TimS]

Thanks Mark!

The view of all the leaves together is giving me a little hint of what a forest of these would look like and i'm thinking about heading down that path for sure. I'll have to have another full read through of your maple forest thread again to pinch a few tips off you!

[Ryceman3]

Summer hasn’t stolen all your hard work... you still have a couple of options!
Impressive load of maples, great commitment, we’ll done!

[TimS]

Only a month and a half to nurse the batch through now and the worst of summer should be behind us! Amazingly they got through yesterday (44 degrees) just fine. The same can't be said for my field style chinese elm which is stressing like crazy at the moment despite my best efforts with it. Can only cross my fingers and keep doing what i can do for now.

Now i have to resist the urge to go collecting more seeds!

[TimS]

An extension was made to the area allocated to my maples was made this morning as i potted up into 6 inch pots, and moved the tallest ones further up the driveway (top of the photo) to let the smaller ones get some more light and air to move into. About 40 or 50 are up there now, the ones i am most confident will survive the experiment, moving down the photo to the front with the tiny ones i really should just throw in the bin now as they are unlikely to get much further.

Family friends that have visited the house have obviously noted my errr......obsession.... and are now collecting seeds from their own maples for me to grow so it looks like "Seed Growing Japanese Maple Experiment v2.0" is going to happen this year. I will have to start visiting some trees soon and collecting a hell of a lot of seed again to make the process financially viable given how much space it takes up around the house. I will concentrate on collecting more of the straight species this time as they are much faster and stronger growing than the weepers but i'll try a bit of everything.

I think they will have to stay in seed trays a lot longer than these did, otherwise i'll have to take over the entire driveway!

[gnichols]

Haha

Jan 26.... have to resist the urge to collect....

Feb 17... have to start collecting....

I have a bunch of seeds from a green and a purple variety that I'm going to try this year. Looks like fun and who doesn't love a JM.

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[TimS]

I suppose i knew deep down that i was going to grow them again this year, this was the excuse i needed hahaha

Luckily i have a few trees with seed in my memory bank to visit, but this time i need to do straight species that the majority will survive from because i'll need to buy pots for them as almost every pot of a suitable size is currently in use in the driveway! So far I've got most of my pots for free, the cost has just been in potting mix, watering/fertilising and time spent on them. I've found a place that bulk sells pots that works out at well less than a dollar a pot, so that might be the best option. Or ask permission to go dumpster diving at my local nurseries

[Isitangus]

All flower power nurseries have pot recycling bins, and I always see lots of seedling and small pots. Your luck may vary but worth a shot.
Great work on the collecting and propagation.

[TimS]

Yep that's a good idea, i'll ask a nursery i used to work at if i can go bin diving out the back for some more pots. I've also found a place that will sell me bulk pots very reasonably so i'll drop by next week and see what i can get for what price from them.

I've be slip potting up the strongest trees from 50cm pots into 6 inch pots for them to grow on through the next year in (assuming they do actually leaf out and continue growing again next spring). I've done 64 of the strongest looking ones so far and I've run out of space again I still have another 100-120 in the 50cm pots at this stage, but they are smaller, but i do need to do another shuffle around to make more space eventually.

I will try to grow another good size batch this year to keep a flow of un-grafted weeping Japanese Maples entering the bonsai community. I need to make a trip out to one i know was heavily laden with seed last year, and "donated" virtually all it's seed to me for this batch. I'll do that in a couple of weeks time to give the seed a bit longer on the tree. I doubt i can get as much seed as i did last time because i had access to far more trees with seed last year, but hopefully i can get enough seed to keep this process going. If i can find some straight species with seed i'll do them too, but so far seed is a bit thin on the ground with the trees i have visited so far.

At the end of the day i do this because i enjoy doing it, not to be a business, though i am starting to grow other non-bonsai things to make the process at least break even from a financial point of view because i don't want to be going backwards as a result of this.

24th of Feb, 64 maples slip potted into 6 inch pots. Approx 6 months old, average height now exceeding 30cm easily.

[TimS]

Seed Growing Japanese Maple Experiment 2.0 is officially underway.

I visited a straight species tree near me with a naturally very small leaf today and i have collected roughly 600 seeds from it. I might return and grab some more if i get a chance! I have a weeping tree in my memory banks i'll visit at the latest in mid March which last year gave me at least 800 seeds so i will raid that again if it has that amount of seed again. So much for never collecting 1000+ seeds of anything again. That lasted about 2 months

Here we go again!

[MJL]

This is a hilarious (and very informative) thread; TimS’ public addiction to Japanese Maple laid bare for all to see! Love it. Well done. TimS, your passion is our benefit. Cheers, Mark


Bonsai teaches me patience.
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[TimS]

You have to be addicted to do this Mark!

I worked out the calculation for 2018 collection: From about 1500 seeds collected from various weeping maples i have ended up with 100 individual trees conservatively. This is a success rate of less than 7%. Of those a further 70% actually look strong enough to push on past winter so it's likely nearer 5% success. Hence why i need to work out how this becomes a financially viable process if i am to continue it. That's partly why i'm collecting straight species this time (hopefully the success rate is better with them and there is still a market for them!) as well as other non-bonsai things.

On the plus side, that's still 100 plants that wouldn't have grown if i hadn't been addicted enough to devote most of the backyard and the entire carport to them so go to look at the positives!

PS please tell me i'm not insane?!? I feel insane doing this again

[Ryceman3]

Not insane... as I have said before, just committed!
I am also thinking about seeds again, the old favourites (pines) and some others ... but I think (know) for any success next season I need to make room... I think you know what I mean. Good luck with the new lot, hopefully you’ll have just as much success as you did with last years shenanigans.