order: sapindales
family: sapindaceae
genus: acer
species: palmatum
*compare downy japanese maple (acer japonicum), fullmoon maple (acer shirasawanum) and siebold's maple (acer sieboldianum).
We gathered some seeds from some beautiful maple trees last autumn. Those trees have tiny leaves of not more than 10cm across. Back home I did scarification on some of the collected seeds and kept the rest in my seed collection. Those that have been scarified were subsequently kept in the refrigerator, sealed up in a transparent zippy bag filled with moist soil. They didn't sprout as soon as I expected. By March I thought it wasn't going to be anything, so I removed the bag from the fridge and placed it outdoor. A few weeks later, to my amazement, those seeds sprouted! I can't tell for sure how many percent sprouted, but in the end I could only find two surviving sprouts in the mass of soggy soil with the help of my tweezers. The rest was a mess.
Meanwhile I've also sown the remainder of seed stock directly into the ground. From this batch, I've got four surviving seedlings. Though they have been severely munched by insects and prolly other animals. My original plan was to leave them where they are to grow on their own for the first year, so I know if they can survive in the wild without human intervention. I gave up on this after my friend, with whom I collected the seeds had been nagging me to dig them out. I suppose this species, which is native to Japan does need protection from cold winter for their first few years, since it has a weaker growth than those that are native here. Now dug out, let's hope they survive the shock.
family: sapindaceae
genus: acer
species: palmatum
*compare downy japanese maple (acer japonicum), fullmoon maple (acer shirasawanum) and siebold's maple (acer sieboldianum).
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| seedling with cotyledons and first pair of true leaves. |
We gathered some seeds from some beautiful maple trees last autumn. Those trees have tiny leaves of not more than 10cm across. Back home I did scarification on some of the collected seeds and kept the rest in my seed collection. Those that have been scarified were subsequently kept in the refrigerator, sealed up in a transparent zippy bag filled with moist soil. They didn't sprout as soon as I expected. By March I thought it wasn't going to be anything, so I removed the bag from the fridge and placed it outdoor. A few weeks later, to my amazement, those seeds sprouted! I can't tell for sure how many percent sprouted, but in the end I could only find two surviving sprouts in the mass of soggy soil with the help of my tweezers. The rest was a mess.
Meanwhile I've also sown the remainder of seed stock directly into the ground. From this batch, I've got four surviving seedlings. Though they have been severely munched by insects and prolly other animals. My original plan was to leave them where they are to grow on their own for the first year, so I know if they can survive in the wild without human intervention. I gave up on this after my friend, with whom I collected the seeds had been nagging me to dig them out. I suppose this species, which is native to Japan does need protection from cold winter for their first few years, since it has a weaker growth than those that are native here. Now dug out, let's hope they survive the shock.
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| more leaves. |
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