Yo...General tips

Horsetuna

I'm just starting my first bonsai from a kit I got at a store. Its a japanese Maple Tree, and it comes with soil, seeds, and a few pots. I found the pamplet really interesting, though lacking in many ways. It explained off the bat though that Bonsais could take YEARS to grow, which I'm impressed with.

So I'm preparing the seeds now. Any general tips for care? The instructions say for Japanese Maple to let it sit in the refrigerator's bottom shelf for 8-12 weeks. And it mentions soaking, however I cannot find instructions on soaking the seeds. Jsut warm water, overnight?

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Dubbs

Heres how I grew my japanese maples from seed.

1) fill a styrofoam cup (or any kind) with warm water and put the seeds in. Leave them in the water for 24 hours.

2) get some soil (all purpose should do) and spray water on it. The soil should be moist, but not drenched. Put the soil in a tray/plastic bag and put the seeds in, put the bag in the vegetable crisper for 100 days.

3) Check the bag every week or so to allow fresh air into the bag/container and to see if the soil is still moist, also check to see if any seeds have sprouted.

4) At day 100, take the container/bag out of the fridge. If you have the seeds in a container, just put it near a windowsill and wait for seeds to sprout. If its in a bag transfer the seeds to a container.

At the 100 day mark there should be some seeds already sprouted in the container/bag, if more then 50% of the seeds have sprouted you can take them out of the fridge. That is how i grew mine, and 4 out of 30 survived to grow secondary leaves. Don't be surprised if none sprout, kits usually have old and dried out seeds.