Japanese maple starter

[linlaoboo]

did your japanese maple bud out yet? I overwintered mine on my upstairs balcony and it struggles to bud. This morning I cut off 1/3 of the top trunk which went dead with our harsh winter which also killed half of my C. Elm -(

2nd question. The dead trunk can be used as a deadwood project? What's needed to keep the wood from shrinking and rodding away?

[TomM]

The usual process is -
remove all bark,
apply lime sulfur,
coat with a wood hardener (Minwax makes a good one)

I have never tried this with a deciduous tree, only conifers.

My only Japanese maple bonsai is leafing out nicely. I'm in a much colder zone than you. But I'm still bringing it into a closed entryway at night and back out during the daytime. We're still getting frosts here. Frost is the killer of young buds on these trees. Any forecasts of 35 F tell me when to bring it back in. We call this 'dance' the Texas 2-step.

[Marsman]

I lost a few branches off my Japanese maple this winter due to late snow fall, but it's popping out buds now and looks otherwise very healthy.

[linlaoboo]

Thanks folks. I'll keep the sulfer and Minwax in mind. Hopefully I won't lose anymore tree trunks next spring cuz I'll protect them much better . .

This spring is weird, there are some street trees in my neighborhood like Platanus that's just starting to bud.