Yet Another Indoor Maple Question.

[Cadillactaste]

Read this thread...before investing in offering dormancy indoors.

SHOHIN CASCADE Kiyohime

Starting a new thread on this shohin maple. Last year in late winter, I placed this tree in a refrigerator in an effort to delay bud brake. I kept the tree inside it for nearly three weeks. Unbeknownst to me, the dry air inside the fridge desiccated the fine twigs and branches despite being kept...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Mikecheck123]

Hey guys,

I’m new here and new to bonsai. I’m an experienced gardener however and I have over 30 years experience with large reef aquariums which I think is relevant in terms of my question, or at least I hope it is.

So I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m hoping as I learn I have a skill set I can fall back on to speed up the process.

Here’s the question. Can I grow Japanese maples indoors (okay, and crabapples, and some other stuff). I live in Houston and I can keep one or two happy in the garden but for most of them it’s just too hot and humid around here.

Now I’ve searched, and clearly the answer if I’m just sticking them in a window is no, no chance, heck no.

But I’ve spent a long time building artificial environments for things to live in and on the good days, they’ve been rather successful. So my question is exactly what do I have to replicate to make this work? Lightning is easy enough, I probably have the lights in my garage and I can get all the way up to full midday sun which would probably be too much. I can either use a fridge, or get fancy and use chillers and humidifiers for winter, and controllers to mimic the cycles.

But I have no idea what cycles to mimic! I know I need winter chill, but how do I figure out how much? Or a good lighting estimate? What don’t I know that I’ll need to replicate? Will I need to vary summer temps or is 75 good enough? Does there need to be a difference between day and night temp? If so, how much? How long do winter nights need to be? How the heck do I find all this out?

Many trees and JMs in particular need a temperature differential between night and day. That's your major hurdle with indoor growing.

 

[leatherback]

You have lots and lots of options courtesy of the Unversity of Florida.
680 Tree Fact Sheet, UF

Cool site. Thx!

 

[Forsoothe!]

I asked Jack Wilke of mame fame about this and he says he does not know of anybody successfully keeping JM without a winter-type dormancy condition. He keeps mame Juniper, Hinoki, Cotoneaster, and others indoors under lights (in his basement) year-around, which is double difficult. One Juniper is 40 years old and in his care the whole time. These have to be year-around to make them accept the winter dormancy at indoor temps. You can't see the dormancy on "evergreens", but you know they are experiencing it. Probably similar to Junipers in Florida in the dry season which is coincidentally winter in FL. (lower light + dry season)

 

[Don Blackmond]

Hey guys,

I’m new here and new to bonsai. I’m an experienced gardener however and I have over 30 years experience with large reef aquariums which I think is relevant in terms of my question, or at least I hope it is.

So I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m hoping as I learn I have a skill set I can fall back on to speed up the process.

Here’s the question. Can I grow Japanese maples indoors (okay, and crabapples, and some other stuff). I live in Houston and I can keep one or two happy in the garden but for most of them it’s just too hot and humid around here.

Now I’ve searched, and clearly the answer if I’m just sticking them in a window is no, no chance, heck no.

But I’ve spent a long time building artificial environments for things to live in and on the good days, they’ve been rather successful. So my question is exactly what do I have to replicate to make this work? Lightning is easy enough, I probably have the lights in my garage and I can get all the way up to full midday sun which would probably be too much. I can either use a fridge, or get fancy and use chillers and humidifiers for winter, and controllers to mimic the cycles.

But I have no idea what cycles to mimic! I know I need winter chill, but how do I figure out how much? Or a good lighting estimate? What don’t I know that I’ll need to replicate? Will I need to vary summer temps or is 75 good enough? Does there need to be a difference between day and night temp? If so, how much? How long do winter nights need to be? How the heck do I find all this out?

You can grow Japanese Maples indoors, but they will not thrive and will eventually die, despite your efforts. You can try to replicate seasons but no one has been successful yet, so don't hold your breath.