Gifted a Japanese Maple - Need fall/winter advice

NorthStar2013

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Hello.

After spending a few weeks talking and learning about bonsai, I was gifted my first, a Japanese maple, yesterday from my very well-meaning girlfriend. It came with a book (101 Essential Tips) and I’ve been watching youtube videos on watering and specifically on not over watering.

I’m not yet worried about any trimming, training, etc. I just want to make sure to keep the tree alive through the winter.

I live in Chicago and the temperatures are approaching freezing at night already (50-60 during the day). The tree came from Brussel's Bonsai in Mississippi and I'm sure the temperature was warmer before it shipped. Not sure if the 'sudden' drop in temperature will affect anything.

I understand that this isn’t the ideal way to start a Bonsai hobby, but my girlfriend really had the best intentions in mind. She had no idea that I wasn’t schooled enough to buy a plant.

The tree is 20 inches tall from the soil; not sure how old (5-12 years?)


Thank you for any guidance or resources you could provide.
-Bo
 

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Welcome, looks like good stock. Keep the girlfriend... Tree will go fast in fall - mode (coloring / browning leaves). They will fall. Moderate frost is no problem for maples but since this one has a huge climate change be cautious first winter. There are a lot of threads on winter care here. Look around and you will see a lot of options depending on your climate. Here i leave them out while freezing at night and get them in a cold greenhouse when it stays below freezing in the day. Most dangerous period is when the tree is preparing (now for you) and when it's waking up early in spring.
 

plant_dr

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Yes definitely keep the girlfriend! She did a good job by not getting a ginseng ficus or cookie-cutter juniper with the rocks glued on top of the soil(affectionately known as "mall-sai"around here) from Wal-Mart or some other box store. Or even worse, one of those "bonsai starter kits" containing a few seeds, a tiny pot, and a miniscule amount of soil to plant them in!(those things have a snowball's chance in hell of becoming anything substantial!)

I'd wait for someone on your area to chime in on what they do to protect their trees in winter there. But if you have a way to put your Koto-hime on the ground and cover it with leaves or something to protect from wind, that will probably give it a good chance to survive winter for you. Better yet, an unheated garage or shed would be great protection for it, or even just letting it get covered with snow and keeping covered like that. Snow is a great insulator too☺
 
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D

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Love koto hime, and that's a nice tree!

From what i understand, the goal is keep the tree between -2C and +5C (28-40F), for at least 60-70 days. Anything colder than this and you risk damaging your tree.

Additionally, i was told that the tree's dormancy cycle 'freezes' and therefore the dormancy day-counter freezes too (i.e. for every day below -2C, you should elongate the dormancy period by a day). @0soyoung is this true or just a rumor going around Quebec's bonsai clubs?

Complete darkness is fine, and probably the most risk-free option since light could warm your tree during a week of warmer weather (followed by subsequent frosts) and wake your tree up from dormancy prematurely, which you want to prevent from happening.

You can also build a box up against your building, and place the tree inside with a miniscule space heater or heat mat. You can use this thermostat that @JudyB brought to my attention. I bought it, and it works great:

https://www.amazon.com/bayite-Tempe...&keywords=bayite+Temperature+Controller&psc=1

Whether you use a space heater or a heat mat, you would put the (included) sensor probe in the pot.

if you have a window to your basement, build the box there. This way you can open the window from inside the house to water your tree. You can also use this to control temperature in a less reliable and more time-consuming way.

As a least resort, do you have space to dig into the ground to bury the tree? When I only had 1 tree, I was told to dig a hole 36" deep and place the tree inside, and seal the hole with a sheet of plywood. Every week or so, open the hole, throw some snow on the soil to keep it watered, and immediately close the hole (yes, the ply will freeze to the ground, so have a plan). Better yet, if you or anybody you know has an outdoor stairwell leading to their basement, you can use this stairwell (rather than digging a hole). Take a look at the first picture in post 105 here: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/my-maples-in-montreal.33315/page-6 (the extra contraption is not necessary -- simply sealing off the stairwell with a sheet of plywood would do the trick!)

Do you have any family or friends with unheated sheds or garages?
 
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NorthStar2013

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Ok, lots of quick posts. Loving this board and you people already. And yes, girlfriend is for sure a keeper!

Today is day 1. I have the tree in the brightest part of my yard, it's currently 51F degrees, dropping to 41F tonight. The 10 day forecast has a low of 38F and highs between 50F and 54F. I will keep a keen eye on the weather and do my best to keep it in that 28-40F temperature range for as many days as possible.

Average Nov temps are in that range (I'll keep an eye out for cold spells though).
Average Dec temps have lows that go from 19-28 and highs from 32-40. That is when it will probably start to get tough.

I DO have an unheated garage.
I also have a city-sized backyard (maybe 400sqft, but enough to dig a hole for sure).
I also have a crawl space under my house that would probably be a tad bit warmer than the garage.

Neither the garage or the crawl space get much of any sun, although I'm sure that doesn't matter much once the leaves fall off.


You all are awesome; great forum experience so far.
 

j evans

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WELCOME! Very nice tree. Don't know for sure about your area but here I put them in the ground, mulch them and they are behind a garage to help with wind. Keep reading and I'm sure you will find the right solution for your situation.
I think that you have three good options right there.
 

NorthStar2013

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And I'm glad to hear you guys think the tree is a good start. Once I get through this winter I can't wait to get some advice on styling and developing this tree further.

Frost is first though. :)
 
D

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I DO have an unheated garage.
I also have a city-sized backyard (maybe 400sqft, but enough to dig a hole for sure).
I also have a crawl space under my house that would probably be a tad bit warmer than the garage.
.


what a dream!

scrap the hole digging. you're garage or crawl space will work :cool:

I would hang thermometers in both places ASAP and start keeping track in an excel sheet or something (it's good practice to be aware of this - in the event that something goes right or wrong, you will want to know why).

your biggest concern right now should be how to control yourself in the spring when your itching to buy 20 more maples ;)
 

NorthStar2013

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I've got 3 thermometers hanging now. In the center of the garage, center of the crawl space and one outside in the shade to have something to compare it to. (had an HVAC issue a couple months ago and had 6 thermometers placed around the house)

And being spreadsheet master, I'm on that task too.

Dang I found the right place or what?
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Welcome to a fantastic life long hobby. Your tree is an excellent japanese maple (JM) to start with. The full technical name is Acer palmatum 'Koto Hime' with single quotes around the cultivar name. Every 'Koto Hime' is genetically identical to every other 'Koto Hime' all came as cuttings or grafts or air layers from the original seedling named 'Koto Hime'. It has a characteristic dwarf foliage pattern, there are other JM that include 'Hime' in their names, which signifies the dwarf pattern. All 'Hime' types are dwarfs, not all dwarfs are 'Hime'. Just trivia you can tell your girlfriend to show you appreciated the gift and looked up a little history on it. Most of the 'Hime' types are not quite as cold hardy as the normal forms of JM. I would consider 0 F, or -17 C to be the lowest temperature they will tolerate.

I am near Zion, Waukegan, Winthrop Harbor area, probably a bit north of you but basically the same climate. I am close to the lake, but with maples that doesn't change things much. Japanese Maples, all Acer palmatum, are not quite fully winter hardy in our area. In the ground some cultivars are hardy enough as landscape trees, but once put into a pot, nursery can or bonsai pot, they are not fully hardy and must be protected.

@derek7745 gave you good solid info as to the technicalities of wintering in Chicago. I'd like to add a few thoughts.

1. - it takes about 2 months for a tree to fully develop their physiological changes necessary to put up with a Chicago winter. Brussel's is much warmer than we are, USDA zone 7, probably zone 7b, where their coldest might only be +10 F and only for a few minutes. (thats -12 C). We on the other hand frequently have -17 F and for 8 hours or more at a time and can go 5 days to a week without rising above 0 F. (-27 C for 8 hours at a stretch, and below -17 C for weeks).
For the next month, move the maple into the unheated garage anytime it drops below +29 F. Only allow the tree to experience a degree or two of frost. You do want the maple to experience as many as possible nights in the 30's, it is the exposure to the 30's that will build cold tolerance. Fortunately we can usually get to almost Thanksgiving, end of November, without a prolonged freeze. Most days will be above freezing.

2 - Once the serious weather sets in, sometime in December, since you only have one tree, one trick I've used is pick up a cheap, but large enough to hold your tree - styrofoam beer cooler. Set the tree in the cooler. Then take as many half full plastic water bottles, with caps closed. The water bottles will provide thermal mass. Goal is to freeze once and stay frozen or to hover just above freezing without daily swings up and down in temperature. Close up the beer cooler and set in your unheated garage. Put on the cool end of the garage until weather outdoors drops near zero, then move the styrofoam cooler to the warmest part of the garage. Or move the cooler to the crawl space under the house. Check in the box at least weakly, make sure the soil the tree is in doesn't get too dry.

Pick up a couple thermometers, I have one that looks like a meat thermometer, but it reads in the range we are interested in -25 thru + 130 F. Stick a thermometer in the box with the maple. When you check you want to be sure the temp is below 40, and above 0F. As spring approaches it is critical to keep the inside of the box below 40 F. JM will sprout quickly, with just a few days above 40 F once their dormancy requirement is met. If it sprouts early you will have to begin the ''in and out dance''. Bringing the tree into the sun during the day and protecting from freezing at night. Also, when you bring them out of dormancy, maples want to go into medium shade. Direct sun for more than a couple hours can burn up new tender growth. Since they have the tendency to leaf out before out trees in the landscape leaf out, the ''shady spot'' in the back yard might have full sun and be too bright. So shade your maples as they break dormancy, but they do want fairly bright light. Brighter than what you could give them on a windowsill indoors or indoors under lights.

When maples have woken up early on me, I have moved them to my lights set up I use for my orchids, The new growth is somewhat leggy, often I end up pruning that growth off a month later after the tree is outside and growing.

Sounds complicated, but once you get the hang of things, it isn't too difficult handling JM in our inhospitable Chicago climate.
 

JudyB

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Just make sure you have some way to protect from rodents if you have them in your area. They like to live in garages in winter too! They eat bark and can kill trees. Do check for moisture once you put it in there, and water if it gets dry. Don't water frozen soil. Welcome!
 

0soyoung

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Additionally, i was told that the tree's dormancy cycle 'freezes' and therefore the dormancy day-counter freezes too (i.e. for every day below -2C, you should elongate the dormancy period by a day). ... is this true or just a rumor going around Quebec's bonsai clubs?
I don't think so. I think it is just a rumor.
 
D

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You do want the maple to experience as many as possible nights in the 30's, it is the exposure to the 30's that will build cold tolerance.

I did not know this! Thank you @Leo in N E Illinois for this, and everything else! :)

In the spring, can one go from 32F to a steady 68F overnight (still talking maples here), or must the process be gradual as in the fall? (just a hypothetical for the sake of posing the question)

Thank you!
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I did not know this! Thank you @Leo in N E Illinois for this, and everything else! :)

In the spring, can one go from 32F to a steady 68F overnight (still talking maples here), or must the process be gradual as in the fall? (just a hypothetical for the sake of posing the question)

Thank you!

In spring the warm up does not have to be slow. But once you warm it up, say 68 F at night, by the second night the tree has lost much of its cold hardiness. If returned to sub freezing temperatures, freeze damage will be more likely.

So fast warm up is not a problem, if it stays warm. HOWEVER - one of the joys of JM in spring is that the new spring growth of a JM, including 'Koto Hime' is pretty colorful. 'Koto Hime' will have bright green new growth, with red edges to new leaves. This red fades to a plain green leaf once the weather has warmed and the leaf is fully expanded. The longer your spring is cool, the longer this colorful phase will last. If you have a rapid warm up the leaves will develop quickly and turn plain green much more quickly. Enjoy the colors of a long cool spring and the reds and yellows of a long cool autumn.
 

NorthStar2013

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I'm very very impressed with this board. I'm a member of several forums for work and old/current hobbies and I've never seen such helpful posts - especially to a 'noob'.

What I usually see are things like "you need to read more" or "use the search bar". I understand that I have a ton more reading/learning to do and based on the thousands of comments (many I assume are as high quality as I've seen) I know this is the place to get that information.

I will catch up knowledge wise and I will make sure to treat posters with questions the same way you've modeled here.

Leo, that was a TON of useful and detailed information and you and Derek have given me several things to do and get set up. Others have also offered great tips (like the rodent thing...good catch).

I'm going to end up re-reading this thread several times over the winter and keeping track of everything. I think I'm good for at least the next month with what's posted here. I may have some more questions as we get into December (although the info here is pretty darn good so far) but now that my biggest worry is addressed for the next few weeks I'm going to start my intensive study sessions.

Thank you all SOOOO much. And anyone else; if there's anything else, please post. Otherwise I'll just keep on reading!
 
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