Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
ok, here's this year's trays of Japanese Maple. Stratifying under a bench for the winter. 
2021 seed division: bonsaidoorguy's maple forest.
- Thread starter Bonsaidoorguy
- Start date
ok, here's this year's trays of Japanese Maple. Stratifying under a bench for the winter.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Well my trays of seeds are sprouting nicely. I mixed up some red maple, green maple, and a few full moon that I came across. I'm pretty sure that they all look the same at this stage so I'm curious to see what the germination percentage is.
HorseloverFat
Squarepants with Conkers
Looking good!!!
No matter how many seeds I sprout... seeing every individual plant grow... it’s OWN unique DNA displaying itself outward is SOOO exciting! It never gets old!
Almost all of my “helicopter collection” maples are “out”... and my “unique trays” that just went out recently are starting to “move”.. exciting times!!
BonsaiGnome
Sapling
Looking good!
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Update on my seedlings. They are doing well. I'm thinking I may leave one tray as is and let it develop. The only drawbacks that I see are the density of the trees and the random heights. I'll separate the red from the other ones and separate by size next spring. I'm thinking a couple of slab plantings.
HorseloverFat
Squarepants with Conkers
Peanut butter and jealous.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
LittleDingus
Omono
The natural competition will give you a natural set of different trunk thicknesses. These tridents were all planted at the same time and grown dense.
This will be season 3 for these guys and you can see how one trunk is already twice as thick as all the others. That can work to your favor for a forest
You'll also end up with less arrow straight trunks that way. the natural competition will cause some of them to lean and bend in natural ways. Generally nothing dramatic like wire can do...but they should form more interesting forest trunks: straight, but not TOO straight!
The problems I see are:
1) You almost certainly will lose some to competition. Hopefully not many, but very likely some
2) I'm not sure there's enough soil in there for robust growth of so many trees. That could be a plus by helping keep internodes short though.
If you do hold a tray back, it will be interesting to see the differences in development over a year!
These are looking great so far
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Definitely not the right quantity or quality of soil. By spring the roots should allow me to remove some soil yet keep them intact and get them into a little better soil for a longer term. I'll probably select the tray with fewer sprouts to leave whole. Might loose a few, but I think I have enough there for a little "survival of the fittest".The natural competition will give you a natural set of different trunk thicknesses. These tridents were all planted at the same time and grown dense.
View attachment 377634 View attachment 377633
This will be season 3 for these guys and you can see how one trunk is already twice as thick as all the others. That can work to your favor for a forest
You'll also end up with less arrow straight trunks that way. the natural competition will cause some of them to lean and bend in natural ways. Generally nothing dramatic like wire can do...but they should form more interesting forest trunks: straight, but not TOO straight!
The problems I see are:
1) You almost certainly will lose some to competition. Hopefully not many, but very likely some
2) I'm not sure there's enough soil in there for robust growth of so many trees. That could be a plus by helping keep internodes short though.
If you do hold a tray back, it will be interesting to see the differences in development over a year!
These are looking great so far
Nice little forest you got going there.
LittleDingus
Omono
Definitely not the right quantity or quality of soil. By spring the roots should allow me to remove some soil yet keep them intact and get them into a little better soil for a longer term. I'll probably select the tray with fewer sprouts to leave whole. Might loose a few, but I think I have enough there for a little "survival of the fittest".
Are those the cheap seed starter trays? Like the $2 ones with the ridges on the bottom? If so, you might think about slicing some strips out of the bottom and setting it on top of another tray full of soil and letting some roots escape? That would let the roots in the top tray continue to knit some while giving them more room to grow.
Then again, my experience with roots growing through plastic is that it can be a mess to get the plastic off when you're ready too! Also, maybe the trees knit too well and you have an issue cutting out the contour to the pot/slab they eventually go into/on.
I usually have the opposite issue. I tend to grow things deep and need to trim off a large portion of the bottom of the rootball to fit into bonsai pots. I know better...I do it all the time anyway
Thanks! It was planted with the intention of being a fused clump by retirement. Once it fell below 5 trunks (it has 4 now), I sorta lost interest in it. I now have a big leafed maple clump that will hopefully become what this was meant to be...but much larger
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
They're just reused flats from flowers, cheap and flimsy but does the job. I've found that the seedlings do fine started in a shallow amount of soil. Keeps the roots shallow, although I don't know why I worry, I trim any tap root at first transplant anyway. I started a couple of maple clumps this year for last years starts. I used over ten in each to accommodate for die back. I used a zip tie below ground level so we'll see in the fall how it did. I love doing trays of maples. I've given away a couple of forests and a future clump style this spring.Are those the cheap seed starter trays? Like the $2 ones with the ridges on the bottom? If so, you might think about slicing some strips out of the bottom and setting it on top of another tray full of soil and letting some roots escape? That would let the roots in the top tray continue to knit some while giving them more room to grow.
Then again, my experience with roots growing through plastic is that it can be a mess to get the plastic off when you're ready too! Also, maybe the trees knit too well and you have an issue cutting out the contour to the pot/slab they eventually go into/on.
I usually have the opposite issue. I tend to grow things deep and need to trim off a large portion of the bottom of the rootball to fit into bonsai pots. I know better...I do it all the time anyway
Thanks! It was planted with the intention of being a fused clump by retirement. Once it fell below 5 trunks (it has 4 now), I sorta lost interest in it. I now have a big leafed maple clump that will hopefully become what this was meant to be...but much larger
People love them.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Summer update. These things are growing like crazy. I'm still considering a forest just using a full tray.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
I decided to go ahead and use a full tray as My forest. I took the mass of trees and hosed the soil out. Then took it as one mass of roots and planted it up. Since they were started in a shallow amount of soil there were no big tap roots to trim. Trimmed the long ones and I'll let it flush out now. Come on spring.
LindaPat
Mame
I love seeing seeds come up at their own particular time.Looking good!!!
No matter how many seeds I sprout... seeing every individual plant grow... it’s OWN unique DNA displaying itself outward is SOOO exciting! It never gets old!
Almost all of my “helicopter collection” maples are “out”... and my “unique trays” that just went out recently are starting to “move”.. exciting times!!
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Spring update. Haven't had much of a spring around here, but lots of good growth. I need to get my snips and do some pruning. Haven't tried to count the number of trees yet, but at this density I don't think it matters. I'm sure I'll lose a few and I may add a few from the other tray in the back where there's some empty space. All in all not doing too bad.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
So other than one pruning in the spring I've just let them go this year. It's looking like a pretty dence forest. Still haven't tried to count them yet. After the leaves drop I'll do a little pruning to shape. So far so good.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Chopped them back so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures. It's pretty dense with some fused trunks here and there. Overall I think it's a good start.
LindaPat
Mame
Amazingly prolific
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Before and after a late summer trim. Hedge trim at that. I'll go in after leaf drop and clean it up a bit. It's looking good though even if it's looking like a small bush. I still haven't gotten a count on the trees, I only lost one this year so far. I think I can get it cleaned up by the end of the contest.
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Starting to wake up and fill in. A few smaller interior trees don't look like they made it but that's ok, I think it'll be full enough. All in all I think it's looking good. Just need to prune some of the lower branches to give it more of a forest look.
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