Japanese Maples have long been a favourite tree of mine, before i even considered bonsai, so when i began studying horticulture at the start of last year i decided it would be a good idea to grow some from seed. I had read that germination rates were very low (i failed to realise that rates are actually pretty good from fresh seed) and went about collecting seed from every tree i came across in my travels of which the vast majority were the weeping dissected leaf kind hence virtually all have that type of leaf. By the time i was ready to stratify and get them into seed trays i had collected 1500 seeds thinking i might get 50 from them if i was lucky. After soaking them in water about half were viable. At this stage i had not twigged that 50% viability was well above the 20% maximum i had read about before starting.
Using a couple of basic seed trays with covers you pick up from local nurseries, and a mix of 50:50 premixed Seed Raising Mix and Perlite with a thin layer of vermiculite over the top. I experimented with covering one and leaving the lid off the other. It was not long before i saw the first cotyledons appearing in the covered tray and this caused much excitement. I knew i was going to get at least one tree for my effort. More and more started popping up and before long i knew i had seriously misunderstood the viability rates as the entire tray was full of seedlings. It would turn out later that 200 or so came from this one tray alone.
The hunt for tubes was well underway and i was fortunate my uncle donated me 150 standard tubes, and a colleague donated me about 500 1 inch tall round tubes to get me out of my fix for the time being and potting up began. Through necessity to create space for more seedlings to pot up i had to pot up the seedlings earlier than i would have liked, as soon as i saw the first true leaves starting to open rather than once they had fully opened. Despite this my losses have been minimal and largely only very weak seedlings that were struggling even in a covered seed tray in a warm, sheltered position.
As of now the count is 370, though some look like they won't last so conservatively i think 350 is about how many i will end up with. With the need for space for the seedlings all my bonsai have had to be moved onto the lawn area for now and i genuinely don't know what i'm going to do with 350 Japanese Maples.
Next time i won't collect so many seeds
and i will collect from trees with the traditional maple shaped leaf rather than the weeping dissected leaf. Lesson learned but it won't stop me growing more maples from seed in the future. From here on i will track the progress and see if there is any difference in strength or habit between seedlings i with the red or green leaves, as well as those with more unusual leaf shapes.Photos are as of today, so plenty of true leaves have emerged on the first to germinate. Lots of variation between leaf shape and colour as to be expected from seed growing but it has been great fun. Now just need to work out where the hell they will all go once they are ready for six inch pots!
hoping that you have a better result with these ones you are growing.
. Hope you don't mind me mentioning this, shibui 
.
