70 Japanese Red Maple Babies, Help!

cchabert

I have a big Japanese Red Maple tree on front of my house and I found under it around 70 news trees that sprout from the seed, and I need help how to take care of them, this what I did so far:

A) I leave around 30 of the trees on the ground, some of them have more light that other ones, some are under a schrub, with this ones the question I have is Did i continuing to leave those as is on the ground for this year and next Feb or March put them on a 5 gallon pot? or move them right now to the 5 gallon pot?

B) I move around a month a go 40 of the trees and put them on a big Pot with garden soil, they receive around 3 to 5 hours of direct sun light, so far they look ok, the question I have here is Did I leave this Pot untouch untill next Feb. or March? or put them on individual pots? 5 gallon is a good size?

Hopefully with your help I'll have enough material to have a nice Bonsai in the coming years.

Thank you everybosy for the help.

Carlos Chabert
Atlanta, GA

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cbobgo

you can leave them where they are, if they are not going to get mowed, or they are not being overly shaded by the stuff they are growing under.

A 5 gallon pot is probably too big for a little seedling. We pot our seedlings up in little 2 1/4 inch pots, which will be big enough for a year or two, then up to 4 inchers for a year or two then 1 gallon pots next. A pot that is too big will lead to increased moisture retention in the soil, which can lead to root-rot.

As far as soil goes, you would have better survival with a more free draining particulate, in-organic soil, rahter than garden soil. You can do a search here on soils and find alot of info there.

Good luck. Snap some pics so we can see all your babies.

- bob

__________________
"As a twig is bent the tree inclines" - Virgil (70BC-19BC)
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Check out my blog: bonsaiapprentice

cchabert

Thank you very much for your help, I put some pics of the ones on the Pot, the other ones are on the ground all over the yard. After you see the pictures did you sugest to put each one on a pot? or wait another year?
Also in that place they only receive 3 to 4 hourd of direct sun light is this ok? or I need to move them to another more sunny place?

Thank you again

Carlos

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cbobgo

Japanese Maples are unerstory trees, so they don't need alot of direct light, as long as they are receiving fair ammounts of dappled light they should be ok. They will probably be alright as you have them for a year. Be careful not to iver-water, as they will be susceptible to "damping off" which is a fungus that kills seedlings.

Thanks for the pics. Keep us updated on the progress.

- bob

__________________
"As a twig is bent the tree inclines" - Virgil (70BC-19BC)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Check out my blog: bonsaiapprentice

cchabert

So far so good, I think, with all your help, thank you again,I'll keep that soil and try not to have it to wet, but.... did I need to used fertilizer? if so wich number is fine? like 10-10-10 osmocote

Thank you and you have a nice Blog I liked, and 150 trees?? wow thats great I only have 3 and all the babies that you saw on the pictures.

Have a nice day!!

Carlos