Japanese maples from seeds

[lblair]

Hi Folks,
Has any one ever grown Japanese maples from seeds. I have quite a few and want to get them ready for next spring. Ive done alot of reading about it, but still if any first hand advice can help im all ears. Thanks, Larry

[TimSullivan]

We did have some grow from seed naturally under the mother tree. Transplanted one and found out how slow these trees grow. It is five years old and only a couple of feet high.

It put on about four inches of growth this year. I don't know if this is the norm but I am too old to wait for it to grow very much.

[pajoube]

Iblair,
We also looked into the possibility of growing from seeds. But when we checked for online resources of seedlings we found so many at a very reasonable price it was not worth it. As mentioned they are very slow growing but very worthwhile.
PJ

[lblair]

Thanks for the input. Im going to force germination over the winter this year. so well see how it goes..Thanks Larry

[kokopelli]

you should be able to get 2-3 growing seasons a year by trimming the leaves at the base to simulate fall. in a few weeks the tree thinks it is spring again and start whole new growth! you can get alot of growth that way for the fist few years. you will also gain alot of girth if you trim branches after the 3rd or 4th leaf for the first few years.

hope that helps some.

[lblair]

I take it you have experiance growing this type of tree? Or is that with all trees doing the trimming thing to force the season changes quickly?

[pajoube]

Can you go into more detail on this? You really perked my interest with this posibility. Do you trim all the leaves or will just the lower do?
PJ