Maple from the yard.
Hello everyone, I have a lot of baby maples in my yard and I was wondering if it would be possible to take one and turn it into a bonsai. I know starting from seed would take an extremely long time and I would rather not go through the hassle so if it is possible I am willing to give it a shot. I will even post pics of some of the ones I think would work the best, also any advice anyone can give me about attempting this stunt please don't hesitate to share. Thank you and I'll post pics tomorrow.
I got hooked on this stuff with volunteer bloodgood seedlings.
Buy a sleeve (or a case) of 5" (daffodil) paper-white pans, and mix up a barrel of soil and pot up 25 or fifty. (or 500)
No, no potting or pro-mix. Build your own soil out of pine bark mulch and granite-grit from the Blue Seal, or Ralston Purina store. Soil made of peat moss, coir, or loess will just kill seedling Japan maples. Trust me, I killed a few hundred till I switched over.
The sugars maple trees make and organic fertilizers make an irresistable combination to mice vole and chipmunks. Use only Osmocoat or soluble fertilizers only. Disregard this and those four legged vermin will chew every seedling to a stump. You was warned.
If you have enough other stuff to keep you busy and 15 or 20 years to fritter away, blood good and other open pollinated landscape Japan maple make very suitable starter trees.
As you continue with this, keep an eye out for Hime examples. You will have to propagate them as they do not have reliably fertile seed. What Hime has got, is a fundamentally smaller leaf and shorter internode length. It just plain makes a more credible small tree.
Buy a sleeve (or a case) of 5" (daffodil) paper-white pans, and mix up a barrel of soil and pot up 25 or fifty. (or 500)
No, no potting or pro-mix. Build your own soil out of pine bark mulch and granite-grit from the Blue Seal, or Ralston Purina store. Soil made of peat moss, coir, or loess will just kill seedling Japan maples. Trust me, I killed a few hundred till I switched over.
The sugars maple trees make and organic fertilizers make an irresistable combination to mice vole and chipmunks. Use only Osmocoat or soluble fertilizers only. Disregard this and those four legged vermin will chew every seedling to a stump. You was warned.
If you have enough other stuff to keep you busy and 15 or 20 years to fritter away, blood good and other open pollinated landscape Japan maple make very suitable starter trees.
As you continue with this, keep an eye out for Hime examples. You will have to propagate them as they do not have reliably fertile seed. What Hime has got, is a fundamentally smaller leaf and shorter internode length. It just plain makes a more credible small tree.
I just re-read your post. If these are sugar maples... I would only take saplings with enough size at the soil line to try and develop. Stump them in October, and plant them to 10 or 13 inch paper-white pans. You are unlikely to live long enough to start from a volunteer seedlings.tomc wrote:I got hooked on this stuff with volunteer bloodgood seedlings.
Buy a sleeve (or a case) of 5" (daffodil) paper-white pans, and mix up a barrel of soil and pot up 25 or fifty. (or 500)
No, no potting or pro-mix. Build your own soil out of pine bark mulch and granite-grit from the Blue Seal, or Ralston Purina store. Soil made of peat moss, coir, or loess will just kill seedling Japan maples. Trust me, I killed a few hundred till I switched over.
The sugars maple trees make and organic fertilizers make an irresistable combination to mice vole and chipmunks. Use only Osmocoat or soluble fertilizers only. Disregard this and those four legged vermin will chew every seedling to a stump. You was warned.
If you have enough other stuff to keep you busy and 15 or 20 years to fritter away, blood good and other open pollinated landscape Japan maple make very suitable starter trees.
As you continue with this, keep an eye out for Hime examples. You will have to propagate them as they do not have reliably fertile seed. What Hime has got, is a fundamentally smaller leaf and shorter internode length. It just plain makes a more credible small tree.