Maple Forums on the UBC web-site

I have about 15 1-3yr grafted maples that are currently in individual pots; I've done this for several reasons, one of which is that they are simply too small for me to feel confident they can withstand the extreme weather we can get here in Kansas. But, I know they will grow faster - and, likely, do better overall - if they were planted in the ground. So, I have been wondering if something like the Gronomics elevated gardens or larger planter boxes might be a good compromise (www.gronomics.com). Depending on the size of the garden/box, I would plant several maples in each.

I would love to hear thoughts and opinions on this, and why it may or may not be better than having them all potted individually.

Way too early, but adorable none the less... Wilson's Pink Dwarf started on Friday (19th), Squitty and Fjellheim on Sunday, and Manyo no sato today - with a lot of my others not far behind. This is my first spring with my maples, and I can't wait for the explosion of color. :)

Enjoy!
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Hello all,
I have a question that I hope someone can help me answer. Basically, if a Japanese Maple is planted in a spot where it's root zone will be shaded in the winter, therefore the soil will have less chance to warm on a daily basis, will this result in a slower start in spring?

I live in a river valley of Northwest Arkansas, with hills surrounding. This results in a micro-climate that is typically colder on the "cold" nights than the surrounding area. As such we get last hard freezes that can do allot of damage. The effect is severe enough as to deter us from planting most Japanese Maples. I have taken to acquiring small specimens and keeping them in containers for 1+ years to determine when they will leaf out locally. One of these I currently have is a Bihou, and would really love to be able to plant out. We have a location in mind that has a privacy fence that blocks the winter sun from reaching the ground, creating a area of relatively cold soil temps in winter. So that begs the question, will this cold soil slow the break of dormancy in the spring? I have looked online for hints of the effect of soil temps on dormancy, but didn't come up with much. So I though it possible that someone on here might have a comparison where an individual JM was planted in a sunnier spot, compared to individual of the same cultivar planted in a much shadier local close by.

Any insight any of you could give me would be most appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Arktrees

http://www.globaltrees.org/downloads/MaplesRL.pdf

The Maple Society Spring Tour this year (2012) leaves the UK and heads down to the south west of France.

Between 4 and 7 May we will be based in Toulouse and visit gardens and countryside taking in maples and possibly a few other species as well.

Further details are on the Society Web site.

Please join us, it should be a very enjoyable visit.

I thought I would share my find. I just got Vertrees 3rd edition for $6.99 brand new! I thought it was too good to be true so before I shared with you I waited till I got mine in the mail. I got it today and it's the real deal. I know it's not the newest edition but you can't beat $6.99 for a $50 hard cover book. Anyway I thought I'd share it here since a lot of you have mentioned it being a great book, that's why I wanted it. I'm not sure how the rules work here so I won't post a link but just go to ebay and search vertress. The seller still has 5 available as of now. Enjoy!

EDIT: I just figured out why they aren't all sold yet, it's misspelled in the listing. Search vertress NOT the correct spelling vertrees.

I am in the process of designing my garden in the back half of my yard, and I could use some suggestions in how to integrate a couple of my maple trees.

It will be an integrated vegetable garden with raised beds, and a few free-range chickens. I want to plant a few of my larger non-dwarf trees (Red Pygmy, Beni Shichihenge) that are currently in pots, and I'd also really like to incorporate some tall ornamental grasses. Should I really try to separate these two, or would it be ok to "layer" the grasses in front of the maples & stick the maples around the perimeter?

I know this is likely a strange question... I have no landscape experience and really don't want this to end up looking completely weird. Any example photos would be helpful! :)

I have a couple maples that I have brought in and out of the garage according to weather, and now my Chantilly lace is budding already! It is moving quite rapidly, and seriously looks like it's gonna leaf out in a week or two. I'm nervous about it being so early!

Should I leave it in the garage, or keep it outside unless it drops below 30 at night?

I live in west central Arkansas near the AR/OK border. We have hot HOT summers with more than 30 triple digit days last summer that are usually very dry. I think the average June/July/August precip is less than 10" but can be as low as a couple of inches or if a stray thunderstorm comes my way, much higher than the surrounding area. We have clay loam soil with decent drainage that has been pasture land for at least 5 decades. I also live in a small valley and the microclimate around the house makes me prone to late freezes even if a mile away never frosts. Lastly, most of the area around the house if full sun nearly all day.

Now the fun part! I would really like a coral bark or two at my house. I would prefer to plant them in the ground but am open to container planting on the front porch with a southern exposure that gets shaded by an awning most of the day. I saw some Sango Kaku leafing out at a local nursery very early in the season yesterday and they were incredible! They were protected in a sort of greenhouse and the other cultivars of japanese maples had barely swollen buds if any at all. I think this alone would make them suffer at my house due to the late freezes we get. I would like some suggestions for coral bark cultivars that would do well in my location (if any exist).

Thanks!

John

Does anyone know how to reach Harold Johnston, or if he's still in business? I know he's been a fairly big name in maples, and I'd love to see what he's got that I just have to add to my collection :)

Thanks!!

Greetings,

I have been briefly browsing the forums here and look forwarded to learning what I can. As I have little to no gardening experience at all and have decided to take on this new long term project \ hobby \ adventure.

I admit I have not searched and have much to browse here yet.

This past November I purchased a packet of 30 Acer Palmatum Atropurpureum, seeds which I kept in their dry form in my Fridge drawer until a few days ago.

I then went through the warm Scarification steps and am now in the beginning of the cold Stratification process on the seeds. Hopefully I didn't wait to long to start this process. I found a lot of views and information on this process but little on what to do once they sprout (if they sprout) and what I do find is very vague.

I am in the US zone 8 NE North Carolina and plan to pot or container plant them on a shelf in an outdoor shed with windows facing east and SE that get direct to indirect sunlight. This at least will provide shelter from wind, direct sunlight and some pests so I am hoping this will be an acceptable place for them.

Some of what I do not know or am not clear on is:

-What type and how much soil to plant them in.. egg carton size.. one inch pot etc..

-How often to water them, daily, twice daily..

-What kind of fertalizer specificly, in what amount or mixture to use and at what frequency..

My source for supplies will likely be retail home outlet type hardware stores like Home Depot \ Lowes or the Internet. I may look into picking up some literature as well.

I am looking forward to any help and knowledge you can provide, but be gentle on the garden terms.. I've already had to google several.. :)

Thanks

RedBird

HI , WE HAVE JUST ENDURED A VERY HOT SUMMER, SOME DAYS XCEEDING 39C , HOWEVER MY YOUNG ACER GRISEUM AFTER NEARLY COMPLETELY DEFOLIATING DUE INSECT INFESTATION AND THE HEAT , I GAVE LOTS OF WATER AND THE PALNT , (APPRX 12INS) , RE-GENERATED WITH NEW LEAF ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS LATER!! HOWVER , AS SOON AS THIS NEW GROWTH APPEARED , IT WAS OVERCOME BY A BLACK SUBSTANCE WHICH COMPLETELY KILLED ALL THE NEW TIP GROWTH? THE PLANT STILL APPEARS TO BE ALIVE ETC , BUT WHAT IS THIS THING CAUSING NEW GROWTH FROM THE TIPS TO BLACKEN N WITHER AND OF COURSE DIE??? YOU COULD RUB THE BLACKENED TIPS WITHIN YOUR FINGERTIPS ONLY TO REVEAL THE PREVIOUS GROWTH TIP ?
PLZ. CAN ANYBODY HELP HERE BEFORE THE AUTUMN (fall) SETS IN? THANKYOU , WAYNE

Hello,
Does anyone have any tips for training acer palmatum understock to grow as a tallish standard? Also, how old should the understock be before grafting?
Thanks!

I'm looking for some choices to plant under some big oaks. I'm in zone 5 and the trees will get maybe an hour of full sun but mostly just a little light coming through the oaks. The direct sun they might get will be late afternoon if any. Any size will work because the oaks don't even start branching out until about 30' high. I'm mostly interested in some dark leaf cultivars that can hold color well but any ideas that can look nice in near full shade would be great! Like for example, a nice yellow would be great as well. I just want some colors other than a normal green that will just blend in with the forest. I want something that will pop out and give contrast to the forest border all summer long.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

But I think my pretty little Murasaki hime has bit the dust. Won't know for certain until everything starts leafing out (though, by the looks of some of my other maples, that could be in the next few weeks), but to my untrained eye, the tree doesn't look so good. The picture isn't the greatest - I can retake, just let me know - but what are your thoughts?
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I searched around but did not find much. Is this tree propagated by nurserymen through cuttings or grafting?

Thanks!!

Does the use of broad spectrum systemic fungicides have a negative effect on arbuscular mycorrhizal populations?

Looking at the picture on the side of a box of a Bayer product I was struck by how the product claimed to clean the root system... but that would be bad most of the time, possibly.

Is this stuff like "plant chemotherapy", to be used only in the most grave of circumstances? Do any of our contributors use the stuff regularly, and if so which one?

Musing on the approach to treat blackening bark on an A. pensylvanicum. If I cut there will be nothing left.

-E

Hi everyone


My kitchen and living room give out to a small recess where I think i could plant a maple. Or is it too tight ?

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Do you have any idea of which upright variety could be best in such a situation ( small recess, 3 walls around the maple, always shady place )

Regards,

Fabrice
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I've got a large forest border that I wood like to fill with some nice color. I've started by clearing most of the weed trees to about 15-20' from my grass border. This also goes to the trunks of some of the very large 150-200 year old oaks. Now I would like to fill this area in with a nice natural forest type look but with colorful trees unlike the ones I removed. Most of the ground is covered with ferns and other native ground cover type plants. I've already started adding some trees that should fair well in this mostly shady forest boarder. Mostly redbuds, dogwoods and maples. Now I have plenty of choices with all the cultivars of japanese maples to fill the gaps but I'm just not sure how close they can be planted without looking crowded. I don't mind the over laping of branches with a nice contrast of colors but I don't want them too close where it will hurt the health of the trees. The problem with japanese maples is they grow fairly large but grow so slow. It looks so bare right now because most of the trees I've planted are so young. I am hoping I can get away with planting some more varieties to help fill in the gaps but wanted to see if this is a bad idea because I'm always reading on here to plant with the full size of the tree in mind. Do any of you have advice on this type of planting or even better, pictures of these maples planted fairly close growing together. Right now I think my closest planting is maybe 15' apart but I feel like it will take forever to fill in this space. Here is a picture of part of the border I'm talking about.

Thanks for any help!
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Attached is a picture of my Ap Fjellheim, the tree in question, taken last summer after receiving it.

Today, while out in my garage (all my potted JM's have been kept in the garage for winter; I open the garage door so they can have ~4 hours of sun each day), I noticed that nearly all the branch tips were black. This discoloration was anywhere from 1/4" to 3/4" in length. I didn't take a picture first, unfortunately, but I cut off all the blackened tips to just below the discoloration - not a huge deal as it is very nicely branched for the size, but still a concern to me.

I am correct in thinking that this could be Pseudomonas, or is it something else? I've read the coral bark maples are susceptible to winter die-back, but I thought it would be safe if kept in the garage (no windows, un-insulated/heated)... All my potted maples (about 30) were treated with the Bayer 3 in 1 (insecticide, fungicide, and mites) Systemic in late November, prior to being placed in the garage. They've been watered 1-2 times since then. We've had a really mild winter thus far, with a few pretty cold nights here and there, so could this be a contributor?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!! :)
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