Seeding from a mikawa yatsubusa cultivar

[TyroTinker]

I found a maple at my local nursery for $25 bucks. It reminded me of a mikawa yatsubusa but I couldn’t remember the name. It’s marketed and a mini maple (trademark) so I knew it wasn’t one because they would tell me if they had a special one. But I was still interested.

I asked someone who worked there then they asked the owner and it ends up it’s “a seedling from a mikawa” he never said yatsubusa but I don’t know if he was just shortening the name or if it’s a different type. I was happy to hear that it was grown from seed because grafts can get pretty ugly and I’ve never successfully air layered anything yet 0/1

Anyways I had a ten dollar credit so the tree was pretty cheap compared to how much I like it.

Just wanted to show it off / ask if it’s to late to repot or do root work on it this year...?



Hard to get a picture of the trunk and branches but it’s a fun little tree

 

[TyroTinker]

It also has quite a mix of leaf sizes

 

[Pitoon]

The short internodes remind me of yatsubusa, but the leaves are not the same. It looks to be several years old. Let it grow and see if it pushes out mature leaves next season. Reason why I say that is becuase you have different leaf shapes on the tree as of now.

If it's a seedling you could very well have a new cultivar. But you need several seasons to annotate growth rate, leaf color in spring-summer-fall to see if it's worthy of being named......which means no cutting and letting it fully grow out.

 

[TyroTinker]

That would be fun having a new cultivar one day I would love to make a new Maple cultivar. It has been a dream for a long time. But that’s a long term goal. First I have a lot to learn.
I’m just excited to get something similar to what I wanted (mikawa) without a graft for a decent price.
Thanks for the info

 

[Pitoon]

Mikawa yatsubusa grow well on their own roots. I have several right now one their own roots with no graft. They grow slow usually one flush of growth in the spring. Let that one grow and see if you have something special.

 

[TyroTinker]

Wow those do look different. Good to know they grow well on their own stock. I thought they were commonly grafted because they were weak stock.
I will be growing this one out but I don’t have the best spot for ground growing right now. I’ll have to wait on that until next year I think. I’ll have to stick to a pot for now

 

[Shibui]

If it is a seedling then it IS an new cultivar! Every seedling has the right to its own name. I guess what @Pitoon is really saying is that only exceptional individuals in the garden world actually get names but anyone can name any seedling as a unique individual.
I do not think it is the right time to be cutting roots. Why risk the life of a unique individual for the sake of waiting a few months? If you'd like to get a little more growth just pot up into a larger sized pot for the rest of this season and do a full root prune next spring.
There are other JM vars that have variable leaves. My 'Villa Taranto' usually has a mix of long threadlike leaves and more normal JM type leaves. I've also noticed this in a couple of other finely divided leaf JM varieties so it is not all that unusual. This one may continue to produce different leaf shapes or might settle down to a single stable adult type leaf.

 

[TyroTinker]

Thank you for your input. I will listen and wait until next spring for any root work. I might up pot it if I have a pot that isn’t to much bigger. I would rather be safe than sorry with this little one.

 

[Pitoon]

Thank you for your input. I will listen and wait until next spring for any root work. I might up pot it if I have a pot that isn’t to much bigger. I would rather be safe than sorry with this little one.

Find a decent spot for it in your yard with morning sun and afternoon shade. Dig a hole big enough for a 12"x12" tile to be place in. Take the tree out of the pot and place it centered on top of the tile, fill dirt around the tree. The escape roots will grow horizontal, downward roots will be blocked by the tile. When you're ready to pull up the tree cut the horizontal roots and the tree will just lift off the tile.

 

[RKatzin]

That's a really cool maple! My Mikawa makes seeds every year. There's a good crop on it now. Guess it's time to sprout some and see what pops up!