Raising maples for root stock.

[coocarch]

I like the reaction video, good luck with the maples though!

[Andrew F]

Just thought i'd up date this thread.



These little guys have gone thru some extreme weather in their short life and no matter how hard iv tried to raise them artificially, nature prevailed, dry westerlies, extreme wind and rain brought on by very weird weather patterns, our cat , oh well natural selection dictates the ones left, about 30, are the strongest of the 70 or so i planted.
And thru all the normal maples i found this little guy, and it all seems worth it.

[Andrew Legg]

Just thought i'd up date this thread.



These little guys have gone thru some extreme weather in their short life and no matter how hard iv tried to raise them artificially, nature prevailed, dry westerlies, extreme wind and rain brought on by very weird weather patterns, our cat , oh well natural selection dictates the ones left, about 30, are the strongest of the 70 or so i planted.
And thru all the normal maples i found this little guy, and it all seems worth it.

Nice mate! Lovely foliage colour! A couple of months back I planted about 100 seeds from a Chinese maple tree. I hand picked them last autumn and then they sat in a cup (no water) on top of my fridge for about 12 weeks. Then I soaked them and planted them in a pure vermiculite/river sand mix. So far I have about 60 of them that have sprouted and now my problem is when to transplant them. They are all growing in a single seedling tray that is not partitioned and some are more advanced than others.

IMG-20120927-00383.jpg

When do I start to take them out to plant out separately? One set of true leaves or two sets? Also, I have heard of making cuttings from seedlings early on to get a good root spread. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Andrew

[Andrew F]

Gday Andrew,

Great job on starting your seeds, but im afraid i cant really give advice on propagating them further than what iv been thru as this is my first time growing from seed. Luke seems to be the wiz as far as seedlings go if you wanted to drop him a p.m.

[shibui]

Andrew, you can prick out most seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle. 1 set, 2 sets of leaves or just cotyledons- really doesn't make much difference. You can shorten the roots really hard at this stage and they will continue to grow just as quick. Try a few seedling cuttings if you feel like it - they will grow almost as well as the pruned roots ones - but the difference in the roots in a few years will be hard to spot. Personally i just shorten the long roots back and pot them up with any roots that are left arranged horizontally.

[Andrew F]

Andrew, you can prick out most seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle. 1 set, 2 sets of leaves or just cotyledons- really doesn't make much difference. You can shorten the roots really hard at this stage and they will continue to grow just as quick. Try a few seedling cuttings if you feel like it - they will grow almost as well as the pruned roots ones - but the difference in the roots in a few years will be hard to spot. Personally i just shorten the long roots back and pot them up with any roots that are left arranged horizontally.

Jeez wow i had no idea i could be as thorough with them at this point, iv been walking on egg shells with my seedlings lol

[fiveoffive]

your Deshojo seeds.

Just looking at the seeds alone they look to be the same as some i collected for a tree down my way.
70% of mine germinated ( of that type red seedlings very large to a normal maple. and after googleing deshojo it looks to be the same tree.
i still have 30 odd seeds left.

[Andrew F]

your Deshojo seeds.

Just looking at the seeds alone they look to be the same as some i collected for a tree down my way.
70% of mine germinated ( of that type red seedlings very large to a normal maple. and after googleing deshojo it looks to be the same tree.
i still have 30 odd seeds left.

I think you'll find that most of mine are normal japanese maple, with the red one being the exception. They were a rich maroon colour but are growing into green.

[fiveoffive]

Nice.

Yeah i have about 200 Japanese maples growing.
I also collected 3 other maples seeds ( from 3 very different types of maple )
I'm going to have to post them up here and get people to tell me what type of trees ( maples ) they are.
2 seedlings look the same one is very different.

[Andrew F]

Nice.

Yeah i have about 200 Japanese maples growing.
I also collected 3 other maples seeds ( from 3 very different types of maple )
I'm going to have to post them up here and get people to tell me what type of trees ( maples ) they are.
2 seedlings look the same one is very different.

Id be keen on seeing what they are like and comparing them to mine, Ken sent me a few from sydney. A handful got blown off my bench and im finding them all over the back yard about an inch tall lol they are not as touchy as i first thought.

[Andrew Legg]

Andrew, you can prick out most seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle. 1 set, 2 sets of leaves or just cotyledons- really doesn't make much difference. You can shorten the roots really hard at this stage and they will continue to grow just as quick. Try a few seedling cuttings if you feel like it - they will grow almost as well as the pruned roots ones - but the difference in the roots in a few years will be hard to spot. Personally i just shorten the long roots back and pot them up with any roots that are left arranged horizontally.

Thanks Velvet and Shibui. I'll give it a try this weekend and see how they go. I'm guessing that if I get it wrong it will be overs kadovers pretty quickly for them. I'll start with 5 and if they go well, I'll do more of them. I'm keen to grow some for root grafting purposes, some groups for the 5-through-a-tile gig, and then I'll grow a few on in beds for single trees.

Cheers all and have a cracker of a weekend!

[kcpoole]

Nice.

Yeah i have about 200 Japanese maples growing.
I also collected 3 other maples seeds ( from 3 very different types of maple )
I'm going to have to post them up here and get people to tell me what type of trees ( maples ) they are.
2 seedlings look the same one is very different.

Id be keen on seeing what they are like and comparing them to mine, Ken sent me a few from sydney. A handful got blown off my bench and im finding them all over the back yard about an inch tall lol they are not as touchy as i first thought.

Nice to know that they are good viable seeds
so long as you do not crush the bottom of the stem or rip off all the roots, then you can be a little rough with them

Ken

[shibui]

I'm guessing that if I get it wrong it will be overs kadovers pretty quickly for them.

Andrew, seedlings are much tougher than older plants and waaaay tougher than we give them credit for so go in far more positive. I reckon it is only about 10% technique, 90% confidence.