Most container growers ( home growers) do exactly that overwinter away from light ...lightly watered in an unheated garage...to keep the temps a few degrees warmer than the outside and away from wind etc ...some also bury their pots in the ground and mulch heavily but the garage or unheated shed is safer IMHO David

The trick is in the spring when they start to leaf out. They need light at that point but can't take the wind and cold that our zone sometimes gives us in the spring. Sometimes they might have to dance back and forth to the garage on cold and windy days in the spring to protect their tender new leaves. Like David said, water lightly on warmer days in the winter (I do mine maybe 1-2 times a month or so) and try to have them in a decent sized container.

Bill

We got a 3-1/2 ft tall Floating Cloud Japanese maple in late July that was in b & b. We wanted to plant it in a large container but it was so heavy that my two strong young sons could barely get it out of the car. I know you're not supposed to open the ball of earth, but there was obviously a wire cage at the bottom of the burlap so I opened it to cut out the wire - and found that the ball was almost solid wet clay, and that the root system had barely developed.

So very carefully (working in the garage at night) I freed the little tree from its clay prison and planted it - bare root now - in the large container we had ready for it. The tree did fine for about a week on our cool shady patio, but then we got a spell of untypically hot weather (for the Puget Sound region) and the leaves fried. A month later, they had almost all dropped.

However, about 50-60 leaf buds at the tips of the branches have opened and the tree now has about 50-60 healthy looking leaves -- but they have almost all reverted to green instead of variegated Floating Cloud colors.

I'm happy that the tree seems to have "made it" but wonder what I should do.

Should I do nothing now and wait until we see what happens in spring?

Should I be removing the leaves because they have reverted to green? If so, where do I remove them -- at the point where the leaf is attached to the stem, or at the point where the stem attaches to the branch?

Or should I just enjoy the green tree I now have and give up hope for the Ukigumo colors I wanted?

Returning to the original topic,
I have over 130 JMs I've been potting and buring the pots in the garden. For the past 2 years, these have survived well, whereas I've lost tons of other plants to dryness and moles/voles.

My question is whether or not, other than planting them in the ground, there is a better way?

I almost no shade, so many of these trees will be potted and repotted for a long time to come. I'm working on the shade thing and have planted 54 trees in the 4 years I've lived where I am. In the meanwhile, I guess perhaps from anyone growing multiple trees, any suggestions?

I hesitate to put any into decorative pots because I'm afraid to put them in the garage. So they remain buried. I just hate it, though, when I lift them out at seasons' change only to find the roots have surpassed the pot. It hurts me, if not them!

I'm probably going to give away a bunch of the tall, absolutely need shade varieities, since I can't acommodate with the shade.

I've slowed my compulsive collecting, though. No, I'm not learning to be more selective! Just better living through chemicals. [ROTFL]

Thanks for your thoughts,
Christine

cfmuehling,
Thanks for the good laugh, I really need something to lighten me up; I can see myself in your post. LOL. I don't have quite as many as you do, at last count I have close to, if not more than, 40 JM's, but our situations are very simular. I have all my tree on an east facing wall where they get morming sun and afternoon shade. The most sun sensitive trees are closet to the wall, then the more sun tolerent trees are in front of them, and the tallest sun loving trees are first. It works well, not the most attractive way to show them off, but I too am waiting for some shade trees to grow tall enough to give me shade.
I have not gone so far as to buring the pots, I think my husband would really start worrying about me then, more that he already does, but here in southern NC it doesn't get all that cold and I have a shed I can put them in if needed. And I am also sure my husband thinks I need chemicals, to curb my addiction, when he sees a new addition or an empty shipping box: I try to get rid of the evidence before he gets home from work. I have wondered, if he thinks my trees are multiply like rabbits do when ever a hurricane comes thru and we put them up. LOL. Good Luck.
-Ivy

Here is a link that might be useful: App-A-Lot Ranch

I too have to admit to being a bit shady with my wife when new JM arrivals happen ...like all addicts I am in denial and hide EVERYTHING... Ivy I wouldn't think you need to bury your pots in that climate unless they are really small...Christine you must either have alot of energy or be totally nuts to keep that many in pots... I say that tongue and cheek since all us addicts are NUTS...but I try to make my nuttiness as easy as i can because of a dominate "lazy" gene ...that watering alone wears me out just thinking about it!!! Why haven't you planted them out is there some reason you would EVER want 130 probably many larger pots??? It would be certainly easier to mulch heavily and water less and live with leaf burn on most and keep the few that ABSOLUTLY won't take much sun in pots only IMHO.... David

[LOL]
Myersphcf, that's my problem. I live in this weird area where my sun is hotter, longer, dryer, and God knows, probably more yellow than anyone around me. Including my next door neighbors. I think I mentioned this atmospheric trough thing?

So even though there is a big maple vendor nearby, I don't even put things into the sun that they do. Even when I buy a tree at the nursery that's been living in full sun, when I get it home it invariably burns. (This year: English Hawthorne and a purple beech that escapes me right now. They're pliable, but only a couple of leaves on them. Luckily, the leaves are new growth.)

I am trying to put some JMs out and harden them by having them overwinter in the sun. I did lose a Dissectum Nigrum, Emperor One, Corillium (more shade), Trompenburg, Palmatifolium, Murasaka Kiohime, an Attaryii and a couple more using the type of sun recommended. I'm sad about these and am working to replace them. Of course, Shania, Geisha, Butterfly, Fireglow, and my gorgeous Atrolineare have done very well. A bit of dry stem damage on the latter, but nothing horrible.

(As an aside, did you know the Atrolineare turns gold in late summer/fall, but the stems darken to a burgundy-black? It's also in HUGE full sun and doing well.)

I'm thinking of taking a class for bonsai, although I have no intention of creating bonsai trees. I have put maybe 9 into the ground, where they receive shade, but the others have to remain potted until... If I can learn how to safely trim roots, etc., and really have a container garden of maples? It might work. Who knows?

Later I'll tell you about the ground hog that looked at my husband, turned around and bit OFF my tree, then waltzed away. All the growth. I thought it was done for, but it's leafed out on the new grafted part (vs. the root stock!).

Ah well. Love, live and learn.
Christine

If I can learn how to safely trim roots, etc., and really have a container garden of maples? It might work. Who knows?
The National Belgian Maple Collection, composed mainly by Japanese maples, is all in containers. Most of the maples are more than 10 years old. The owner is in zone 6 and never buries them.

Gomero

ooo OOO oOOOOOo!

I'll look to see if they have a site. That's good news!

Christine

This is the place, but you may have to brush up your French ;o))

Gomero

Here is a link that might be useful: CECE-Choteau