Help! Advice Needed! JM Seedlings

Discussion in 'Maples' started by johnnyjumpup, Aug 17, 2014.

  1. johnnyjumpup

    johnnyjumpup Active Member

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    Location:
    West Kootenay BC Canada
    Hi,

    I have four small 16"L x 6"W x 6"D troughs of small JM seedlings. I poked them in on top of my pots of tulips and narcissus last fall, brought them in from my garage in March to my unheated but sunny front porch. They started growing this spring and I tx'd some of them into a couple of trugs in late April, early May and put on back patio next to house. Some were almost wiped out by late cold spells. One planter of bulbs with seedlings I kept on the covered back porch. This bunch I planted into the trough much later, end of May and these are 4' to 8" high now. A bit crowded (17 in the trough). These all look the same, green, unremarkable, but I'm proud of them..

    One planter has 12 very different looking seedlings. A couple of pinkish, very, very dissected leaves, about 5" high (that's new growth, bottom ones are green), one or two with very long middle lobes, some cut down to the petiole. I have six little green ones coming up in a carpet of cyclamen seedlings I had forgotton I had planted. These were from the mini cyclamen I bought in winter.

    There are also a few (about 6 or 7) that have sprouted at the base of some of my in ground JM's. In my experience these do not usually survive.

    My question is: Should I pot on the little seedlings in the troughs or just leave them to overwinter in my unheated garage/potting shed and pot on in the spring when they will have a fighting chance. As I understand it, their roots are not putting on active growth in mid summer but do start doing so in late summer. Am I on the cusp here?

    I have them potted in 5:1:1 Bark, Perlite and Peat mix. Free draining. I plan to dig up the in ground ones and put them in a mini trough for the winter.

    What do you think? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    I also have a water rooted cutting. I pruned off a broken branch last January, 2013 and had it in water because I like the shape of the branch and the anticipation of new leaves. Winters in the West Kootenays are long... I noticed by May there was a water root. Amazed, I eventually potted it into 1:1:1 Bark,Perlite, Grit mix and kept watering it until I put it in the garage over the winter. It is still alive and has even put on new growth. I am afraid to disturb it. Do these ever develop enough of a root to sustain itself?

    BTW, maximum low temps here are -29C for maybe two or three days. Usually more in the minus teens, twentys.

    Thank you
     

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