Seed

I received some seed from a Japanese Maple (am trying to find exactly which variety the seed are from). Do any of you have experience with starting a Japanese Maple from seed and, if so, please describe your experience and advice.

In my experience, sow them right away. Maple seeds hate to dry out and have no shlef life as such. Sow them now outdoors in a pot kept shaded and moist. They should germinate on their own in the spring.

I think this is TRUE for northern areas but not MOST of TX ...As I understand it JM's need a cold period called stratification ...here are two similar but differnt ways to do it gleaned from a couple of internet sources ...I do think Todd is correct whatever you do do it right away...or soak the seed before doing any method
#1
collect JM seed (samara) just as the wings begin to turn brown in the fall. I prefer to not let them dry out. I place them in an equal volume of moist peat/perlite in a zip lock bag with a hint of fungicide for sixty-ninety days in the frige. As they germinate I plant them in 4 inch pots. If your JM seed are dry, soak them in warm water for 48 hours and then treat them as above.

#2
japanese maples need cold stratification. wrap them in a damp paper towel, in a zip lock bag. then put them in the bottom drawer of the frig. for three months. make sure they stay damp for the 90 days. seeds have growth inhibitors in them so they don't start growing till winter is over. this method breaks down the inhibitors by making the seeds think the 90 days in cold frig. was winter. Then plant seeds 1/4 inch deep in potting soil, in constant 70-75 degree temp. keep soil damp. plastic wrap over top works well. When you start to get seedings, put them in window or grow light. Wish there was a faster way, but I haven't found one. And this method works.

hope this helps... David

Posie, it won't matter much what cultivar the seeds come from. Japanese Maple seeds don't grow true to type so you don't know what you'll get. Trees only grow true to type when they are grafted.

But enjoy the surprises you'll be seeing! The good news is that seedling maples are generally hardier and easier to grow than most grafted maples so they are good to start with.

Yes, my advice is based on what we do in the north...nature provides our start period. I have also used David's #1 advice when I wanted a jump start. I forgot you were in Texas where 4 months below freezing is NOT in the picture!

Thank you so very much for your advice. I learned something besides how to sow the seeds, that seeds don't grow true. I was not aware of that at all. Again, thanks a million.

Posie4u , what typically hapens with trees is that someone growing hundreds of thousands of seedlings each year, will find one of a specie that is a stunning color, for a longer period than the normal specie. Then in June they will "Bud Graft" the new type onto seedlings to propagate this new type. But they will never be true by seed. That would take more than a mans lifetime to make happen, so it doesn't happen. We just practice June Budding Grafts, on Maples, etc. Todd_Boland gives good advice about Maple seedlings. The woody plant seed manual of the USDA, says that the small seeded maple won't germinate if they fall below 30% moisture. Therefore the small seeds I have collected this fall are floating in water with a fungicide. To follow Todd's method, I woul have no other thingsgoing on and therefore would hav 1000
4" pots with soil ready to go. This is not realistic for me, so I put them in the frig. Frank

I love this forum. Thanks for the info. I truly had no idea all trees were grafted. That's a lot of work!