Paperbark maple

[Giga]

Well-here's one you don't see everyday- it's not much to look at now because it's just a large tree but it has really unique bark and branches as you can see

buds are pretty cool


The main reason I got it is this-there are main roots the flair our under the soil as I dug down a bit at the nursery then covered them back up. The tree is about 12' tall and will be cut down to about 14" and planted into a flat with the roots sorted out. For now nothing to do but wait for spring.

 

[Dav4]

It's one of my favorite small maple landscape trees...great form, cinnamon colored exfoliating bark, and beautiful foliage color, particularly in the fall. Very difficult to propagate. The leaves are trifoliate, which may or may not complicate its development as a bonsai.

 

[coh]

I've got one of these in the yard, thinking about attempting an air layer.

 

[Giga]

It's one of my favorite small maple landscape trees...great form, cinnamon colored exfoliating bark, and beautiful foliage color, particularly in the fall. Very difficult to propagate. The leaves are trifoliate, which may or may not complicate its development as a bonsai.

yeah after I cut it down n such i'm going to study how the new growth grows and then the following year(2017) when I start styling and cutting things I'll see how that plays out. I'm a sucker for unique trees and this fits the bill.

I've got one of these in the yard, thinking about attempting an air layer.

I'm pretty sure they are difficult to layer and germinate and take cuttings, at least form what i read

 

[CWTurner]

I have 5 air layers going on my landscape paperbark. I started them kind of late (July maybe?) and checked them in late October and didn't have any roots, but some significant callousing. Hoping they make it through the winter (if it ever gets here) and will root out this summer. So yeah, they don't root fast.

BTW, I purchased another paperbark in the fall that had almost black peely bark. I thought the tree might be dead, but scratching the bark revealed green. Hoping this stays black next year.
CW

 

[coh]

I have 5 air layers going on my landscape paperbark. I started them kind of late (July maybe?) and checked them in late October and didn't have any roots, but some significant callousing. Hoping they make it through the winter (if it ever gets here) and will root out this summer. So yeah, they don't root fast.

BTW, I purchased another paperbark in the fall that had almost black peely bark. I thought the tree might be dead, but scratching the bark revealed green. Hoping this stays black next year.
CW

Did you use the standard "ring bark" method, or the wire tourniquet method? I figure I'll probably try each way and see what happens. Definitely going to start as early in the season as I can (April or May).

Chris

 

[CWTurner]

Chris,
I did the ring bark method, added a bit of rooting hormone as well.
There's another thread in here where someone recently talked about air layering even before bud break. Never heard of that. I thought we needed to wait till the leaves were full first, but if you're looking for a head start maybe this is something to consider?
CW

 

[Giga]

Chris,
I did the ring bark method, added a bit of rooting hormone as well.
There's another thread in here where someone recently talked about air layering even before bud break. Never heard of that. I thought we needed to wait till the leaves were full first, but if you're looking for a head start maybe this is something to consider?
CW

Couldn't hurt to try, may try something like that myself.

 

[Bunjeh]

Acer Griseum. There are two large clumps of these in my neighborhood. Beautiful fall color. I grabbed some seeds this year hoping grow my own.

 

[Dav4]

Acer Griseum. There are two large clumps of these in my neighborhood. Beautiful fall color. I grabbed some seeds this year hoping grow my own.

Expect very low germination rates...I've heard 7% is considered good.

 

[0soyoung]

Expect very low germination rates...I've heard 7% is considered good.

A. Griseum is not self-fertile, but it makes samaras anyway. If there isn't another tree nearby (as is the case with my landscape specimen) thee 'seed' has no embryo - cut it in half and has a hollow where the embryo should be. Go to where there is a group of A. Griseums and the samaras have embryos; germination rates are then usually quite high.

 

[Giga]

Acer Griseum. There are two large clumps of these in my neighborhood. Beautiful fall color. I grabbed some seeds this year hoping grow my own.

Expect very low germination rates...I've heard 7% is considered good.

A. Griseum is not self-fertile, but it makes samaras anyway. If there isn't another tree nearby (as is the case with my landscape specimen) thee 'seed' has no embryo - cut it in half and has a hollow where the embryo should be. Go to where there is a group of A. Griseums and the samaras have embryos; germination rates are then usually quite high.

I'm no expert on this tree, but everything I've been reading says it's a stubborn tree I'm glad I found the nice tree, it very unique maple.

 

[Bunjeh]

Expect very low germination rates...I've heard 7% is considered good.

That's what I have heard. There are 10 trees in the clump and two had seeds on them. I gathered about 100 or so. If I do not get any to germinate I found a source for bare root seedlings so I will just pick up a couple in the spring.

 

[Dav4]

That's what I have heard. There are 10 trees in the clump and two had seeds on them. I gathered about 100 or so. If I do not get any to germinate I found a source for bare root seedlings so I will just pick up a couple in the spring.

Good Luck!

 

[0soyoung]

That's what I have heard. There are 10 trees in the clump and two had seeds on them. I gathered about 100 or so. If I do not get any to germinate I found a source for bare root seedlings so I will just pick up a couple in the spring.

Cut a sampling in half to see if there are any with embryos. If it is hollow, it is certainly not viable. Stop at the first one you find - 1 out of however many you cut/split is an estimate of the fraction of the seeds you've got left that could germinate.

 

[Giga]

That's what I have heard. There are 10 trees in the clump and two had seeds on them. I gathered about 100 or so. If I do not get any to germinate I found a source for bare root seedlings so I will just pick up a couple in the spring.

I'll make sure I keep this updated, you can live through this tree and maybe it can help with your seedling what I find

 

[Bunjeh]

Cut a sampling in half to see if there are any with embryos. If it is hollow, it is certainly not viable. Stop at the first one you find - 1 out of however many you cut/split is an estimate of the fraction of the seeds you've got left that could germinate.

Odd that you mention that because that is precisely what I did. All of the kernals were as fat as peas so I cracked one open to reveal a healthy seed and embryo. Here's hoping. Wondering though, are these likely to sprout this year or next?

 

[0soyoung]

Odd that you mention that because that is precisely what I did. All of the kernals were as fat as peas so I cracked one open to reveal a healthy seed and embryo. Here's hoping. Wondering though, are these likely to sprout this year or next?

The seed coat is a problem and scarification doesn't seem to be effective. The coat, though, 'releases' in time during stratification, so you may want to proceed with a do-loop of 6 weeks in the frig, try to remove coats, return to frig, repeat until you've gotten most all of the coats. Then wait about 3 months to pull the package from the frig. You should get around 80% germination (not counting empty/non-viable seeds).

If you put the seeds in little folds of plastic that are folded inside damp paper towels (in unsealed plastic bags), you can easily pick up the ones that have germinated to plant and return the rest to the frig. for more 40F-ish stratification. I think you can keep this up until late June. Then either toss the remaining seed in their stratification packs in the frig for next year (2017), or toss them into pots, the ground or the rubbish bin (after cutting them open to see how many are empty, if you want to contribute to hobby-science).

 

[Dave E]

i've been working on growing acer griseum from seed.right now they have been stratifying in the fridge for a few weeks.i have about 100 seeds.
half i tried scarification and the other half i didn't.i soaked them overnight and i'd say 80% or so sank.they are now in sphagmum in the fridge

thanks for the cutting a sample open and removing the coat after 6 weeks tips

 

[Giga]

I didn't know so many were trying from seed or the species in general. I can't wait till spring! Post your pics here too of you seeds n such, should be cool