Is this a Silver Maple Seed?

[sikadelic]

Hey guys...simple question here. I found several of these seeds today while mowing a neighbors yard. Is it a Silver Maple? I couldn't spot the parent tree but from my google-fu, it does indeed appear to be a Silver. A lot of the sites have similar images though so I just wanted to check here. Thanks!

 

[Dav4]

Definitely a maple samara...could be silver, Norway or sugar I suppose. I'm betting Sugar maple

 

[sikadelic]

Thanks Dave. Think it would be too late to throw them in the fridge for this year or would I have a better chance saving them until next year?

 

[garywood]

J, this time of year having a complete samara you might look at Acer Rubrum (red maple)

 

[sikadelic]

J, this time of year having a complete samara you might look at Acer Rubrum (red maple)

Gary, thanks for the lead. I would much rather have a Red Maple as I know they are very hardy and well suited for bonsai. I think I will throw them in the fridge for about 45 days and see if I can get them to sprout this year.

 

[Oliver Muscio]

It looks like silver maple to me (I had one in my yard), but that or red maple, no chilling is needed for germination. The darn things sprout everywhere each Spring from this year's seeds. Just put it in soil and stand back!
Oliver

 

[Dav4]

Forgot about A. rubrum, good call.

 

[Eric Group]

J, this time of year having a complete samara you might look at Acer Rubrum (red maple)

It is definitely not Rubrum. Their seeds are much smaller. My yard gets covered with a blanket of them every year, their seeds are about 1/10th this side, red and very smooth textured, not rough like this one.

I had one of these large ones land in my garden this year as a matter of fact and wondered what it was also! It sprouted on it's own and though only a tiny seedling with one set of leaves, it looks like Sugar Maple to me at this point.

If you want to grow it, just throw it on some dirt Jarrod. There is no requirement to cold stratify and do all the funky "magic tricks" people seem to want to perform on seeds to get them to sprout. Might increase the rate of success for Pine seeds to do all that I guess, but Maples will literally grow whether you want them to or not if you so much as drop a seed ON TOP of good dirt... Assuming you have good fresh seed, which this obviously is if it was just dropped by a tree into your yard. Go for it man!

If you want a Rubrum Jarrod, just send me your address and I will send you as many as I can fit in a box. Quite literally an invasive species in my yard.

 

[M. Frary]

Red Maple as I know they are very hardy and well suited for bonsai.

They are?

 

[Dav4]

They are?

The southern version of A. rubrum has smaller leaves and less coarse growth then the northern version and does pretty well in bonsai culture.

 

[jk_lewis]

J, this time of year having a complete samara you might look at Acer Rubrum (red maple)

I agree -- especially in Indiana.

 

[M. Frary]

The southern version of A. rubrum has smaller leaves and less coarse growth then the northern version and does pretty well in bonsai culture.

I was going to say. They are all over up here and I only see huge leaves and long internodes. They're tough. Dug one up for the yard with leaves on it and it took off. There are no native maples here good for bonsai.

 

[sikadelic]

I will throw them in a pot and see what happens. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[M. Frary]

I will throw them in a pot and see what happens. Thanks for the help guys.

More than likely growth will happen. Hopefully. Good luck.

 

[Eric Group]

This is the seedling that is growing in my garden, I even found the seed case it came out of and put it right there below the seedling... Maybe tough tot ell from this pic, but before it hatched a tree and rotted away, it looked exactly like the one above. The tree looks like sugar Maple to me, but tough to tell at such a young age.

 

[Eric Group]

Oohhhh... Maybe it IS Silver Maple, found this pic of their seeds online!
Obviously my little seedling above is hard to tell the difference between Maples, but this seed looks exactly like it and was labeled Silver Maple online

 

[MidMichBonsai]

Looks to me to be silver maple. I have about a couple thousand volunteers that spring up in my yard/flower beds each spring from my 2 silver maples. I treat them like weeds I have so many. They will never get very proportionate leaves but...they're native. I know others will disagree with me but more and more I'm getting used to the idea that American bonsai perhaps "should" have american trees, even if their proportions aren't quite right. That being said, I think Acer Rubrum have more beautiful fall leaves whereas Silvers have yellow and are more susceptible to the rampant "black spot" fungus in our area which is why I prefer Rubrum.

 

[whfarro]

Best way I have found to propagate Silver Maples is to NOT clean my gutters...

 

[Eric Group]

Looks to me to be silver maple. I have about a couple thousand volunteers that spring up in my yard/flower beds each spring from my 2 silver maples. I treat them like weeds I have so many. They will never get very proportionate leaves but...they're native. I know others will disagree with me but more and more I'm getting used to the idea that American bonsai perhaps "should" have american trees, even if their proportions aren't quite right. That being said, I think Acer Rubrum have more beautiful fall leaves whereas Silvers have yellow and are more susceptible to the rampant "black spot" fungus in our area which is why I prefer Rubrum.

I have two Rubrum Bonsai and about.. 3 dozen??? Or so volunteer seedlings and less developed ones. The Bonsai are pretty good trees! One is a shohin and the leaves stay pretty small... Not quite small enough for the size of the tree but much smaller than the norm for the species. Seems to be pretty simply the smaller pot size leads to smaller leaves because the larger tree, in the larger pot... Wait for it... Has larger leaves! Shocker, I know... They could be slightly different varieties or something, certainly.. Regardless, I am finding it to be an OK species for Bonsai, not great.

Aside from the generally large, fleshy/ delicate leaves that are damaged, scarred, pock marked or deformed quite easily, the "twig" growth is quite coarse and I do not see the potential to develop great ramification. Trident and JM develop fine twigs much easier and faster... The Rubrum is also not as tolerant to root work as JM, but seems much more cold hard than trident. Even here in SC I had two Tridents I think were damaged by the cold. Killed the top on a small seedling and killed some branches on two of the larger ones... And we never saw temps below about 15 F... Mine are obviously used to warm climate comparable to a tree living in Michigan or something, but I was surprised to see the damage.

 

[sikadelic]

I would think it may look pretty good as a large tree when the leaves can be in proportion to the trunk and crown. It would likely be a 20 year project.