AusBonsai

Hi there.

Scored some maple seed, i'd like to get them going as soon as possible but im worried it might still be a bit too warm for them to assimilate the ambient temp when it comes time to plant them. [read that the jump in temp will stunt growth or even kill seedlings]

So am i better of waiting till i can plant them in winter??? It takes 60-90 days to stratify apparently.

Has anyone raised maples from seed?

Yep have done plenty of maples and always sow them end of winter. You will struggle with them thru the summer if you do now.

Ken

kcpoole wrote:Yep have done plenty of maples and always sow them end of winter. You will struggle with them thru the summer if you do now.

Ken

Hi ken thanks for the reply, i guess if i time it right the best time to start stratifying would be late march to mid april so by the time they are ready to come out of the fridge it will be into winter, i hope its not an un seasonally warm one

Thanks a bunch mate.

Hey, In response to your question,
I pulled a handful of maple seeds from a tree on my way home one day, I think I split it into 2 groups. One group was put in warm water and left for 2 days then planted. The other half I just planted. I think about 8 grew. Of the 8, 3 have died (due to family knocking over their pots and not telling me), 3 haven't changed much bit seem to be drying up and the other 3 look fantastic and I can't believe how much they've grown in just 6 months (they honestly look like the sort of plant you would expect to have after a years growth). The trunks on them at the moment are about 2-4 mm. If you do decide to grow some from seed, just a word of advice. Every time it rains, the shoots for new leaves just keep pushing out, never forget to water them, not even once, and when they are more than double the size of the pot, move them into something big so that the roots have plenty of growing room.
Regards, Coocarch

P.S. I will post pics as soon as I find my bloody camera.

coocarch wrote:Hey, In response to your question,
I pulled a handful of maple seeds from a tree on my way home one day, I think I split it into 2 groups. One group was put in warm water and left for 2 days then planted. The other half I just planted. I think about 8 grew. Of the 8, 3 have died (due to family knocking over their pots and not telling me), 3 haven't changed much bit seem to be drying up and the other 3 look fantastic and I can't believe how much they've grown in just 6 months (they honestly look like the sort of plant you would expect to have after a years growth). The trunks on them at the moment are about 2-4 mm. If you do decide to grow some from seed, just a word of advice. Every time it rains, the shoots for new leaves just keep pushing out, never forget to water them, not even once, and when they are more than double the size of the pot, move them into something big so that the roots have plenty of growing room.
Regards, Coocarch

P.S. I will post pics as soon as I find my bloody camera.

Hi Coocarch,

Thank you for the tip, was the maple Acer Palmatum???

Didnt stratify at all???

Hi VS this subject has been touched on , on a few accasions . Most of the ornamentals , especially the reds will die from damping off or simply die from lack of roots . This is the main reason they are grafted . No doubt you will get them to strike , and yes they can grow for 1-2 seasons if damping off doesn't kill them in the first month or two .

I have grown close to 1000 different reds and ornamentals and they aren't true to colour very fickle and the success rate was less than .001 % in 10 years . I did manage to keep alive 1 specimen for 5 years , growth was atrocious and colour very mottled , then it simply dropped dead . By all mean try your luck but it is a waste of time and effort in my opinion .

Cheers Alpineart

Some of Alpine's reply seems to apply to the weeping japanese maples - A. palmatum 'dissectum' and others. I find that it is these weeping varieties that are difficult to maintain due to weak roots.

The upright forms of A. palmatum, including 'atropurpureum' usually produce quite strong seedlings and many of my seedlings from red leaved varieties have retained the red leaf character in varying degrees.
Just remember not to label any seedlings with the parent name. Any seedling will be different from the parent and, if its good enough, needs to have its own variety name.

When to sow depends on how much seed you have available and where it came from. If its fresh seed from northern hemisphere I'd store it and sow in autumn or stratify and sow in spring. If its older seed I'd sow now and hope for the best. If you have enough I'd try a few different options ie sow some now and/or sow in winter and/or statify and sow in spring.
In any case it will be interesting to see how they go up there.

I've also had problems with red dissectum maple seedlings having a death wish. Very attractive... Best possibly to learn to graft your own, low and smooth, or layer a commercial tree just under the graft. Not happy. I have one left.

Gavin

I think i might just graft them then. Thanks guys.

Hey, I found the camera, and now I haven't a clue what species they are, I'll probably find out when someone identifies them. They were all sown last year, about October (2011). I think the small ones are like that because I didn't put any fertilizers in the soil. These are really young and they surprised the crap out of me with how much they've grown. I'm 16, so if I just did something incredibly difficult with blind luck, please tell me. I'm hoping that what I learn in Biology will help me to keep them alive long enough for them to become bonsai. Thanks for reading!
Coocarch

Coocarch those are Japanese maples you're growing there. As you say the little ones are a bit starved but the bigger pots are growing quite well. Plants in pots need much more fertiliser than plants in the ground so feed them all regularly to get good growth. In bonsai we mostly try to get the plants to grow lots and prune off the excess to find the bonsai inside rather than starving a plant into becoming a bonsai (which can be done but it takes ages longer).

I'm 16, so if I just did something incredibly difficult with blind luck, please tell me.

I still get a kick out of seeing seeds sprout into new plants but I'm sorry to disappoint you though, Japanese maples are quite easy to grow to this stage. Getting really good bonsai from them is slightly more complex.

Good luck with the plants, biology and bonsai.

Dissectum seedlings aren't as strong as the plain palmatums, but some are robust. A lot of the seedlings fail to make it for the first and second spring. The ones that survive this period go on to make fine bonsai. It is a numbers game that is well worth trying. Damping off is the main problem in spring with young trees.

I grew may seedlings in Canberra by just pickling ripe seed in late autumn from display trees in the local nursery and sowing them in styrofoam boxes. Each spring I weeded out the plain leafed ones.

Here is a picture of a ten year old dissectum grown from seed - not grafted.

SteveW wrote:Dissectum seedlings aren't as strong as the plain palmatums, but some are robust. A lot of the seedlings fail to make it for the first and second spring. The ones that survive this period go on to make fine bonsai. It is a numbers game that is well worth trying. Damping off is the main problem in spring with young trees.

I grew may seedlings in Canberra by just pickling ripe seed in late autumn from display trees in the local nursery and sowing them in styrofoam boxes. Each spring I weeded out the plain leafed ones.

Here is a picture of a ten year old dissectum grown from seed - not grafted.

Hey mate the pic didnt work.

Patience is a virtue, especially with bonsai.