Hi folks. Yesterday on a whim, I bought a Tamukeyama Japanese Maple. Anyway, now that I've bought it I'm trying to decide where to plant it, or should I put it in a pot? I have three candidate sites to plant this tree. If I pot it I can keep it in the barn or garden shed or on my sunporch. Here is a picture of said tree... Following this picture is the three candidate planting spots.
This is where I had originally thought to plant it. This is in my hosta garden under a bunch of black walnut trees, but it is on top of a small hill and really doesn't have much in the way for protection from the wind.
This is candidate site # 2. This is more of a sheltered site, and will receive east morning sun and full sun till about 1:30 pm. If I go with this site, I'd probably build a small perennial/hosta bed around the tree area.
This is the last site. This is on the east side of the house. It can get pretty hot and dry here. This would be the best winter protection for the tree tho. I don't know, tho...
Guess, it would help if I showed the picture. sorry.
So, I guess what I'd like to know, from an experience JM grower's perspective, should I plant it, and if so where, or should I pot it up and use it that way. Or should I leave it in it's current pot for the winter and plant it next spring (if so, which site)? Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Diann
This is pretty easy...keep it in the pot til spring and plant it out ...in tyhe mean time this late summer and fall move it from spot to spot and see which one you like best...oH I'd stake that puppy...letr it weep but give some support to the trunk area it looks a little unstable and gives me pause ... restake when you plant it out ..David
Yes, staking it will happen. Do I need to repot it or can it stay in the one it's in till spring? Thank you.
It's hard to tell how big that pot is kind of like those ebay photos...sometimes they look gigantic or sometimes small depending on how adept the photographer is in making it most saleable ;>) If you think the roots fill out the pot ...it may give more winter protection to repot ( my instict is yes repot and giive max protection)...but then I would hate for you to do that and screw it up on my humble advise...if you do repot I'd wat til it goes dormant this fall...use a fairly large pot but not humoungous ans plat it out in your chosen site next spring...I was going to say I love the first spot and JM's don't seem to be effected by the walnut poisons like some plants BUT falling nuts may not be you best placement choice...it is purdy though ...David
Thanks David. :) My husband reminded me that the first choice is a relatively sheltered spot and falling walnuts isn't a problem for the hostas, but falling branches and limbs are. I will keep it potted this year and I'll check the root ball to see if it needs re-potting. I think it's in about a three gallon pot. Not huge, but not horribly small.. And yes, staking will need to be done now and after planting. Thanks for all your advice, I sincerely do appreciate it.
Diann
I too would repot when it cools off a bit more. As for the placement...all of those sound fine as far as sun as tamukeyama is probably the most heat/sun tolerant of the red dissectums. I would worry about the cold more than anything judging from where you are.
Put it where it will stand out and you can enjoy it every day. All of those spots have nice color contrasts where the red will look nice against the greens.
Laura
Congratulations Ticker. I'm sure that it will look beautiful in any of those spots. Should be fun to see how it colors up in the fall.
Thanks guys. :) I'm a bit nervous with my new baby... So, if I repot it and I'll need to move it to the sunporch or a garden shed. Which would be better? sun or mostly darkness? Now, see if it was a hosta I'd just plant it and forget about it... :) LOL Thanks!
Diann
If it were me, I'd put it in a shady spot after repotting. Don't overwater, a couple of times a week should be sufficient. Better to give it one or two deep waterings than several small ones to get the roots down deep. You are in a much colder area than I am, so I'll defer to the northerners for how to overwinter it until it toughens up a bit. You've got a few weeks before frost starts, I think! Here it isn't until late October.
Laura
one interesting post that i read on the garden web made some sense ( although much of this persons post wass bull hockey)...
He said to keep watering to a minimum or completly stop towards fall i assume mid Sept for us . His reasoning is to harden off the plant and to keep it from having late bursts of growth that would cause alot of winter die back...thus forcing it to go dormant early giving it more winter protection .... this is just his theory but I think it makes GOOD sense and plan to follow.this in the upcoming fall period....of course if you have a naturally wet fall you can really have no control over that ;>) David
This message was edited Aug 31, 2007 5:21 PM
Interesting theory...not sure I buy into it, but our fall and winter are often delayed, so maybe in a colder zone this makes sense. Here, the leaves come off in October and I stop watering at that time.
Laura
