are they leafed out?? if so.. they need to be hardened off ...as they will be subject to frost/freeze ...

its hard to believe they have no roots ... are you sure???

if still dormant ... it is the perfect planting time ... in z5

give us a few more facts ... a pic would be worth a lot of them ... ken

Oh no, I didn't say they had NO roots, just seems not much. I'm used to buying trees in 3-5 gallon pots! LOL
Here is a pic of the lot. I slid one out of the plastic sleeve. Remember, there are 2 trees to a sleeve.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Kris

{{gwi:333707}}

Amur maples are being sold as "Plants for Birds and Wildlife?"
Its a invasive weed! Around where I live there are 1000's of them that have escaped into natural areas that you could dig up for free. Anyway, if you are determined to grow them, they look like they could be planted in the ground immediately or potted up if you want. Either way, they will survive, grow and spread. They are weeds! They grow naturally as multi-trunked shrubs/small trees so you don't need to plant more than one in the same place to get multiple trunks. You could cut them back to force them to grow more trunks if they seem to want to grow as a single trunk.
Honestly, I think if you wanted a nice maple with good fall color, you should plant some Sugar or Red maples.

I see green. I'd be a little careful with them if you still have the chance of a hard freeze.

This is a small tree, for sure, and won't get large. Not large enough to create a shady area that is much bigger than head height. It does not, however, age gracefully and seems to be rather short-lived. Most older specimens in the area are half dead... can be an attractive tree, but not often (around here, at least).

Before I select trees, I usually check out the Ohio Conservancy site and make sure what I want isn't an invasive tree. Amurs aren't on the Ohio list. What I'm hoping these will turn out is like this photo. I've seen several in the 'hood and really like them - not too tall, but a nice canopy for a bench underneath. Pretty color in fall and with more and more windstorms I wouldn't have to worry about them falling on the house. LOL (Like my red, sugar or silver maple likes to remind me now and then.)

So, to recap: Since I don't have the places ready to plant them in permanent locations right now, I could a) pot them up in 2-gals until fall or b) dig them in a holding bed and dig them up and replant in fall. I guess it won't hurt them if I gently pull the 2 trees apart when potting. Right now my 'regular' maples are all budding out. But no leaves, of course. Perhaps I should keep these babies in the unheated garage for a couple weeks before putting them into a hold bed (with or without pot).

P.S. How short lived are they? Will they last 20-30 years?
Thanks.
Kris

{{gwi:333709}}

Sorry they are a pest in Minnesota. It's very troublesome to find that lots of popular plants sold today are on someones 'invasive' lists.

giantslug - I had just blogged about how casually merchants sell invasive plants with little regard to environmental ramifications because I had just brought home some bush honeysuckle and was chagrined to find it was an Ohio invasive. I have destroyed it. Unfortunately, in the US it always comes down to $ and not education or common sense. A browse through Ohio Natural Resource site and the Nature Conservancy of Ohio site was a real eye opener and made me realize that so much of what has become common landscape plants around here are invasive imports. G'head. Rant. I'm listening.....
Kris

i would get a 5 or 10 gal pot ... with some DAMP, but not wet potting soil ...

and de-box/bag the lot of them ... even separating the duos ... and plant them all in the same pot...

hold them in the garage for 2 weeks .. 3 max .... to harden them off ...

and then plant them in your holding bed ... for fall planting...

i would not let them go longer than one year.. before getting them into ta permanent location ...

ken

That reminds me of some container trees I saw at Lowes that were branded "Natives Nursery- Native plants" and in one of them was a Sawtooth Oak- an exotic pest plant here.

Interesting suggestion, Ken. All in one big pot. Would not have thought of that. This is directed toward 'hardening off' the trees before they go somewhere else, correct? My goal is to plant them this fall, most likely October.... Which, in your opinion would make the trees more 'ready' for fall transplant: holding bed and re-digging them up and plant (what? bareroot? or root ball?) or 2-gal pots sunk into holding bed so no digging come fall, just pulling up and transplanting.
Kris