CLOSED: Big Leaf Maple Seeds to a Good Home

I harvested a few too many Acer macrophyllum seeds for a trade and am wondering if anyone would be interested in any.

These are large shade trees that grow rather quickly and need to be given space (you don't want to try to prune these to keep them small - it doesn't work well and it ruins their natural form) so they're not for small gardens but for someone with some room they're absolutely gorgeous trees with a unique form and wonderfully large leaves.

Right now I have seeds split into 5 packs of 25 seeds - if you want more or less than 25 just let me know. These seeds were just harvested about a week and a half ago, but they do not store well even when kept cool so they need to get to their new home and be sown rather promptly.

If interested just let me know - trade or postage (these are large seeds and would require a bubble envelope for safe passage) would be grand, just want to see them get to a good home.

Thanks,
Amanda

Hi Amanda, would the Acer seeds germinate this time of year out doors ?
I have Pindo butia Palm seeds clean & viable but they are rather slow to germinate.
What color are the leaves in the fall ?

Thanks,
Larry

Hello Larry,

Dried Acer macrophyllum seeds need a cold period before they germinate and do best if they can be sown outside (or in a cold frame) now in which case they will germinate in the spring.

The leaves turn yellow in the fall - rich golden with full sun. With their large leaves they make quite a statement. I though I had a picture of mine at least starting to turn but the location of that photo is currently eluding me. Here are some other people's photos of the A. macrophyllum in fall color:
http://www.agpix.com/catalog/AGPix_TeDoMaLi31/large/AGPix_TeDoMaLi31_1006_Lg.jpg
http://pro.corbis.com/images/CB036681.jpg?size=572&uid={53272193-4CE6-41FD-B6BD-778AEA2DA498}
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/fall/amacrophyllum.jpg
http://www.arthurleej.com/images/BiglfMaple.f-c.jpg

I would absolutely love some Butia Palm seeds so definitely let me know if you're interested in trying the Acer macrophyllum or if you have any other questions about the species.

~Amanda

Hello Amanda -
My husband loves collecting all types of unusual hardwood trees - and we have lots of acreage for him to fill up. I would love to try some of the seeds if you don't mind. I am not sure that I need 25 though, so if someone else needs some of them, I can definitely take less. Of course, I am not sure they will live in our high heat and humidity here, but according to the plant files, they are supposed to be hardy for this area, of course, definitely not native to this area. I have never seen a maple with such large leaves but it sure looks lovely.

Please let me know if you still have seeds available and what I need to send you.
Thanks
Genna
In Arkansas

Hello Genna,

Fantastic! These trees really are gorgeous and enjoy room to spread out so I'm sure they'll love it there in that respect. I honestly don't know as far as their heat/humidity tolerance but it would be very interesting to hear how the species performed in your area.

I have plenty of seeds left so you're more than welcome to 25 if you want them - obviously 25 big leaf maples is a lot and then some, but even though they grow readily from seed there's always some that just don't make it and those little unforseen circumstances so it should more than ensure that you end up with some great trees - and they do grow well in clumps. Mine have lost their leaves by this point but I'll take a picture of the parent trees to post what their form looks like.

~Amanda

Amanda,
Would you recommend sewing in pots or in the ground or what?? I have never done much with seeds (have several flower seeds that I have purchased and traded for this year!) and wasn't sure since these were trees...... I wasn't sure how fast they grew either..... If I plant in pots - would you suggest leaving them in pots above ground for a couple of years. Thanks for any advice you can offer....

genna

Hi Amanda,
I'd love to have some of your seeds but I don't have anything to trade as most of my plants are still pretty young. (just finished our house 4 years ago and I'm still landscaping). Please let me know if you have any left and I would be happy to send a bubble envelope with postage. Thanks.
Marleine

Genna,

I personally start mine in pots just so that I can keep track of where they are and to cut down on predation. I've grown quite a few of the native trees here from seed, including the A. macrophyllum, and I have had the best luck keeping them in pots (Pacific Madrona is an exception because it's so sensitive to transplanting) for the first couple of years just so that they're big enough to stand up for themselves in the garden

I'm sure it varies quite a lot depending on climate, but here the A. macrophyllum grows very quickly from seed. By the end of the second to third year the ones I've grown have outgrown all but my larger parts and are ready to be planted out in the garden. The source I have says that it's best to move them by the time they reach three foot, but it's been my experience that they're rather tolerant of transplanting even at much larger sizes.

Marleine, that's not a problem in the slightest. I'd love to share these. I'll D-mail you my address for the postage.

~Amanda

Sorry to be so dense, but are you leaving the pots out year around? I wondered if they might be more susceptible to freeze damage "above ground" so to speak. I do not have a green house so if they go in pots, they would have to stay outside year around.


Marleine - we are not too far apart (in the skeim of things anyway) - maybe we can both have success with these trees. I have never seen any around here.

Genna

You're not being dense in the slightest - far better to ask than to do an "oops, you meant...", believe me, I know ;) Besides, it's a good question.

Absolutely, in general having a plant above ground in a pot does make its roots more susceptible to winter damage. In the case of more tender young trees I do move them either next to the house, or for the real tenders into the greenhouse, but I've personally never had a problem with winter damage on a Acer macrophyllum.

Like my other hardy baby trees, I've always left mine out through the winter in pots behind a rabbit fence (and now deer fence). However, they are of course native in my area so I'm obviously fully within their hardiness zone and climate preference.

How cold does it get in your area during the winter? Here, except in extreme cases, we only occasionally dip into the twenties, but from what I've read the Acer macrophyllum is reliably hardy to zone 6 and at least marginally so in zone 5. If you're in a borderline zone I would definitely protect the roots in the winter by burying the pot/mulching, but otherwise there shouldn't be any problems with the winter temps.

~Amanda

Hi Amanda, now I'm really going crazy if I'm considering growing a tree :) I'm in a neighborhood, w/o too much room, but I think I have just the spot for one of these! Besides, I haven't grown a tree from seed before...

Would you like to see if there's anything I have that you'd like to trade for? Otherwise, I'd be happy to send postage... if you still have some?

-Kelly

Thanks Amanda. Good info! I am in zone 7b so just slightly cooler (most winters) than you. In fact, I am borderline zone 8 on some maps - but most list me at the bottom of 7b - we have temps in the low 30s fairly regularly, but like you, we only occasionally have temps down in 20's and rarely below that. I have a feeling this will be a cold winter here - we have already had temps equal to our lows last winter. But it has been a while since we have had any real cold so guess we are due. Hopefully, since they won't germinate til Spring, they will do just fine thru it. I don't have a greenhouse, but I can always move them up close to the house or something next Fall.

Thanks again for the great info! Looking forward for the little darlings to arrive..... ^_^

Genna

That shouldn't be a problem at all. I definitely wouldn't' worry about this particular species in a 7b/8a area - when I was growing my babies in pots I was living in the foothills in zone 8a. Of course now I'm on the water so it's warmer here and just in general it's been unseasonably warm in western Washington so it would figure that it was unseasonably cold where you are.

The seeds will need the cool temps for at least a couple of months before germination begins so that should work out fine and if after the babies come up if you get particularly low temps next winter moving them close to the house should be enough to keep them safe and after that they should be nearing a plantable size.

Of course just let me know if you have any other questions and I'm so glad to know that the babies are in good hands.

~Amanda

I finally remembered to take the camera with me to the mailbox for that picture I promised. Here are the parent trees without their leaves. At least the leaves aren't on them anymore - but they are what's making the ground orange-brown ;)

It's hard to visually gauge the size of them since the photo was taken on a slope looking down at them, but for size reference, the tree closest to the camera has a 14' diameter trunk. The second one is similarly sized on its main trunk but also has the additional, smaller clumps that have merged into a solid trunk at the very base.

The long limbs that don't branch out until quite a ways up is typical of the species and is part of why pruning for size restriction destroys what makes this species of maple particularly attractive (though you would still get the large leaves).

~Amanda

Nice picture. Thanks for sharing..... I am excited - guess it will be several years before mine look anything similar to that - but it will be fun watching them develop ....

Genna

It will definitely be a generation or so before your babies reach the girth of those trees, but they do reach a decent height very quickly and look beautiful even when they're young. Certainly part of the fun in growing trees from seed is watching them develop, especially knowing what they'll eventually become.

Assuming that all the envelopes arrive, all the seeds have been accounted for - thanks everyone for giving them a home.

~Amanda

Hi Amanda, i hope your New Year is a good one. We have a mail man that does not always get the right mail in the right box. I know that's what happened with our Acer seed trade. I guess someone wanted to keep them. Nothing to get upset about though, i just wanted you to know why i didn't respond about receiving them.
Have a great weekend,

Larry :)

Hello Larry,

Indeed I had a fantastic New Year and I hope you did the same. But I'm very sorry to hear that the Acer macrophyllum seeds didn't make it to you. They most definitely should have been there quite some time ago and they haven't come back here.

Unfortunately I don't have any of those seeds left for this season, I'll most certainly send you some as soon as they ripen for next season, but in the meantime if I have anything else you're interested in please do let me know.

~Amanda