budinator
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Need advice for growing new red maple bonsai in Texas

Hi!

While I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago, I saw a little starter kit for a bonsai tree and thought it would be cool to have one, so I said "why not?" and got it. Unbeknownst to my complete bonsai beginner self, I had no idea what I was getting into.

So long story short - I live in the Dallas Texas area (looks like 8a on the plant hardiness zone map, 10-15F) in an apartment with a patio (its a south facing "cubby hole" kind of a thing, where there are three walls and railing/opening that is on the southside, if that makes sense). I purchase the red maple bonsai (this one, which doesn't appear to be the japanese red maple: https://www.evesgardengifts.com/Red-Mapl ... /19032.htm) and from lots of google-fu, as far as I can tell, this tree will need a winter dormancy period to survive.

However, I'm not sure if I should put this outside on the patio or leave it indoors on the windowsill. It gets REALLY hot here and I don't want it to die quickly :)

Thanks for the help!

budinator
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Oh - and, I have seen some posts here regarding maples, but they generally are the Japanese maple variety. I don't mind growing outdoors, as this would alleviate my very-likely-to-be cat problem (they like eating plants).

If there's a different kind of bonsai tree that might be better suited, I'd love to know about it! Thanks again :)

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rainbowgardener
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Oh geez..... Starting a tree from seed is SUCH a slow way to get to bonsai. You did not buy a bonsai, you bought a maple tree seed. In your link, it says the seeds are guaranteed to sprout. Therefore I take it they have already been "cold stratified," I.e. been kept in damp, cold storage long enough to be ready to sprout.

Do NOT plant your maple seed in the little bonsai pot they gave you. It is years down the road before your maple tree will be ready to be turned in to a bonsai and planted in a bonsai pot. The seedling will just die there. It is late in the season now to be planting maple seeds, but oh well... Plant your seed in a six inch deep pot, filled with potting soil, mixed with extra perlite or coarse sand to make it more free draining. Put the pot out on your patio, but with shade cloth over it to filter the sunlight. Water thoroughly, then let the top layer of soil dry out some before watering again. Too much water will rot your seed.

Do not fertilize until your seed has sprouted and your seedling has a few leaves. Your seedling will sprout a long tap root, which is why the deep pot is needed. When your seedling has more than a few leaves and is as tall and wide as the pot, transplant it to a gallon size nursery pot. You can do this by gently sliding the whole soil/root mass out of the pot. Have the bigger pot already filled and with a hole in the soil to put the tree roots into.

Several years from now when your maple seedling has an actual trunk with some diameter to it, come back here and talk to us about how you start working to make it a bonsai. In the meantime you have plenty of time to be reading about the art and technique of bonsai. If you want to learn some bonsai skills, buy yourself an ficus or shefflera tree in a nursery pot and start practicing on that.

What you are hoping for eventually for your red maple bonsai, might be something like this (this one is Japanese maple, but principle is the same):
Image

Note the trunk thickness. The basic art of bonsai is to develop tree that gives the illusion of being a mature tree, just in miniature. So it has to have some trunk diameter. A rough guideline is that the height of the finished bonsai should be about six times the diameter of the trunk. Once you have cut down the roots to fit it in a bonsai pot, it will thicken up very, very slowly (like over decades), if at all. If you don't invest the time to let your tree grow some trunk, you end up with the stick in a pot effect. Below is NOT a bonsai!:
stick in a pot bonsai.jpg
stick in a pot bonsai.jpg (63.51 KiB) Viewed 2329 times
Best Wishes!

budinator
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As I thought... yup - I had no idea what I was getting into, so thanks for the detailed reply! From your reply, it seems like it should be ok in the extreme texas heat, provided it is shaded, yes?

I will take your suggestion of getting a ficus or something to practice on in the long meanwhile. Of course, I shall google-fu it, but if you have any recommendations on websites/books, I'd love to hear them :)

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rainbowgardener
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Our bonsai learning forum here:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=36

has a thread listed near the bottom of the page on lots of people's suggestions of good bonsai books to get started with.

tomc
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Location: SE-OH USA Zone 6-A

Yes please refer to the bonsai learning forum. it will speak to the watering need of your tree.

Inasmuch as your starting out of season. I might place the seeds you were given into a ziplock bag that has a wrung out paper towel in it. Place seeds in their bag in the fridge. Check every week for sprouts. If nothing sprouts take bag out of the fridge and let rest on the counter. (you may reasonably also wast to check the paper towels dampness when you examine your seeds. Try warmth for four weeks repeat as needed.

The most often way to kill a seedling tree, is to put it into very fine particle soil. Cactus mix is about the soil you want. learn how to use your chop-stick at least daily for water needs.

Maples are out of door trees only. They can abide in the shade of a porch. But interior air conditioned--heated air is far too dry for a maple. If your tree simply must live indoors, train a Texas Ebony, a fig, or an ivy as bonsai. A window-sill tree only gets about 10% of the light it will get in the shade on your balcony. Plan on supplimenting the light it gets.

A. Sears
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Maple must be acclimated to outdoors in some direct sun light. Eastern red cedar is great for bonsai and you should be able to collect for free from your area.



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