You can do that, but you will probably get some mold in the soil eventually. I don't know if that is harmful for the tree though. Also, keep watch for signs of swelling buds. If it happends, you must take it out in the light, you might even have to give it some artificial light if it happends in the dark of winter.

Keep in garage, wrap pot with material made for use as insulation if that ever seems necessary - this species is very hardy, -40 degrees F. comes to mind but you should check that. If that hardiness is consistent then protection of a potted example might become necessary when, say, -20 degrees F. was being approached.

Main problem I have had with potted stock in unheated garage here is certain items drying out and wilting or shriveling without my having noticed beforehand - be sure to keep an eye on the soil moisture situation with your maple.

Do you have leaves or wood chips you can bury the pot in if the ground is frozen? I would be more likely to leave it outdoors with the pot buried in something to provide insulation.

One of the state's seedling storage facilities is five minutes from me, my step daughter works for the forestry dept. I've been in the cooler when it is operational, the temp is kept at 36F and humidity at 90 percent. The seedlings are in bundles of 50 in Kraft paper bags that hold 10 bundles. It is downright MISERABLE in that place!

I don't think any buds would swell in my refrigerator, the milk almost freezes. I might have more trouble taking the beating from the wife. :-)

The tree is rated down to usda zone 3 (-40f) but potted roots may not be idk.

I did think about a protected corner outside the house where I could pile up some leaves on top of the pot but I'm always afraid of mice moving in during a warm spell.

So what I did was to put a thick layer of wood mulch in the bottom of a 5 gal pail and setting the pot inside on the mulch, filled the pail around the pot and on top with more mulch. That way, I can leave it in the garage until we get snow, then I can move it outside and bury it. I set a lid on he pail loosely which will keep mice out but not be air tight.

If we don't get snow, I have some fiberglass batting I can wrap the pail with for the cold part of the winter.

I watered the pot just before putting in the pail and the mulch is moist, more like frosty, so it shouldn't dry out very fast inside the covered pail.

Thanks for the information, makes it easier to make a good decision. :-)

There's a tendency for woody plants in pots to be 20 degrees F. less hardy than the same kinds established in the ground, hence my preceding comment.

Is the garage attached or freestanding? If attached, place tree in cardboard box on the wall next to the house. You do need to check it for moisture every month or so, but enough heat should leak from the house to the garage to keep the adjacent part of the garage much warmer. For example, when I had a min/max thermometer in the garage near the door to the house, the lowest it ever read was about 23F. The coldest it was outside during that same period was about - 27F, and the garage is on the east side of the house and gets the full brunt of the winter northeastern wind.

Bill, that's a lot of work for a Amur maple seedling. Did you mean to say Amur maple as in Acer ginnala?

whaas, many things are a lot of work in zone 3. :-)

Yes, Acer ginnala. A large hedge on the property next to mine.

I collected seeds off that hedge this fall and am planning on trying to germinate them but I may have waited too late to pick them bc they were pretty dry and hard by the time I got there. Then I found this seedling, growing along my lilacs, 2 pretty, bright red leaves on it, so I potted it just in case the seeds were no good, then I'd have at least one to plant.

We'll have a couple stretches of double digit, sub zero temps before this winter is over so didn't want to take any chances.

mad_gallica,The garage is attached but with no ceiling, ventilated soffits and 6" insulated house walls, there are some days that the temps inside the garage are a zone or two warmer than the out side, especially on calm sunny days. But when the temps drop below zero and winds are 40-50+mph, the temp differential isn't all that great. Gets worse after the cement floor freezes.

I may be over doing things some to prevent winter kill on this tree but I've only had things die when I didn't do enough. :-)

This plant is a notorious invasive species in WI and figured it was for MN as well so it just struck me as odd that you're babying a seedling.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/education_safety/safety/ambassador/ta_invasives_broch.pdf

I'll hook you up with a V. dentatum 'Red Feather' and you can toss the amur maple.

Thanks! But those dnr web pages are way overblown. You never see areas that are overtaken with these trees. https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/trees-shrubs/small-maples-for-minnesota/

• Amur maple is a MDA Specially Regulated Plant in Minnesota. Sellers must affix a label that advises buyers to only plant Amur maple and its cultivars in landscapes where the seedlings will be controlled by mowing and other means. Amur maple should be planted at least 100 yards from natural areas.

Ya, it's another one of those 'solutions for a problem that doesn't exist' . This law must've quieted the ones that were voicing their fears about this plant. Comparing it to European buckthorn is ludicrous.

I'm sure folks are trying to be more aggressive and proactive so it doesn't become as issue like something like European Buckthorn.

Yikes to below!! MN is the hotspot for infestation.

https://www.eddmaps.org/distribution/uscounty.cfm?sub=3965

Hopefully you keep that thing away from any natural areas! lol

if you find it on line, it must be true...

too bad they don't also so posit the magnificent Manitoba maple and silver.

I see it out and about so I believe it.

Most of the Amur I see are ones that have been planted. They were distributed by the DNR for years and years so you see them a lot on farm steads and windbreaks, hardly ever in the wild. Maybe in the larger urban areas where plantings have been neglected. The only place I see seedlings are directly under older plantings.

Buckthorn is another story. You can drive and see the green leaves from the car late in the fall. Hundreds of thousands of acres I'm sure. A large population in MN own land in the rural area for the sole purpose of deer hunting. They wouldn't know the difference between buckthorn and my uncle and don't really care one way or the other. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is going to spend time trying to eradicate all that.

FWIW: I did notice that in places that I cut the buckthorn at the stump to clear shooting lanes on my land, deer fed heavily on the new shoots to the point that the buckthorn had a hard time trying to come back.

For once the deer are doing some good!

wayne, imagine this...if you find it online it could be true! Unless you're some type of conspiracy theorist I would put some faith into posts from forestry folks.

Both of the maples you mentioned are actually listed. As to whether they are invasive is another debate!

whaas,

The map in your link shows distribution. If you notice in the link that I posted, Tens of thousands of these trees have admittedly been planted. Many in the northern most areas of the state because of their hardiness. Now is that map you linked to showing just the areas that have been invaded? I don't think so, I have a feeling they are listing everything including what has been planted intentionally. So to me these maps tend to be ambiguous in the value of the information. Just because they are present doesn't mean that the trees are spreading like crazy.

Hey Bill, you bet more or less awareness if anything. It would at least get me thinking if my state listed it as an invasive and has a law about planting the species.

Perhaps you have to take that with a grain of salt but knowing it produces a bumper crop of seeds and has incredible adaptability to dry, moist, full sun and full shade would make me pause as to whether I'm going to plant it or at least where it gets planted.

You can click into the counties and get the exact coordinates. You'll see a mix of identified plants including state forests. Think of how many aren't identified.

Some of these aren't little seedlings either....

https://secure.bugwoodcloud.org/eddmaps/images/report/768x512/4719231_1.jpg

https://secure.bugwoodcloud.org/eddmaps/images/report/768x512/4999306_3.jpg

whaas, no problem. And I do consider all these issues carefully and am as concerned about invasive species as anyone. You do realize that some of these worthless invasive plants are far beyond any hope of total eradication?

Interesting maps. Thanks for all the input!

Disclaimer: I live in town where these trees can be controlled and am not condoning plantings of this tree in Minnesota other than in accordance with the MN laws concerning Specially Regulated Plants (see #4 under this section).

Oh, and please check all of your local laws/ordinances before proceeding in your state/town.

Now we got that out of the way :-), I brought the little tree into the house last week and in a few hours saw the lead bud start to expand. The picture is after a few days so I'm thinking it made it through the winter. I'll be using this species in a limited capacity, one or two plants in the yard, with some of my conifers for background.

To add: In my usda zone, we don't get to have all the fancy Japanese maples and other small trees with brilliant fall colors, so as a small yard tree, this is about all we have. Probably why they are so popular up here in this sandy cold climate.

As an aside, I was at a friends' place out in the country the other day and he showed me a small Acer ginnala that he had planted many years ago. It was still only a couple of feet tall with no seedlings starting up anywhere in the surrounding land scape. It has a sunny location not far from a roof edge so it's getting watered.

The pictured plant above, originated on the empty lot next to me. The parent plant has been there for 40 years and is still is only about 10 ft. tall. The only seedlings I could find were directly under the unkempt parent tree, except for this one that was on the empty lot side of my lilac hedge but still on my property.

I don't think they compete too well with our other native shrubs. It must have been some other area of MN where these appeared to possibly be a problem and made the list. Certainly not around here.

I used to live in the Twin Cities, and in my back yard was a city park. Both buckthorn and amur maple grew extensively in the park. Buckthorn is WAY worse, but I would say A ginnala does have a tendency to take over and grow in thick thickets.

However, the trees never get big, so they don't shut everything out, and they aren't nasty like buckthorn.

A zone warmer (4) and much better soil would make them somewhat more problematic. And yes, no comparison to European buckthorn, not even close.

The Acer start out slow and stays small for a few years as seedlings so in my country, deer and rabbits also tend to be factor keeping them in check.

Worst of it is, hardly anyone has a clue that these plants are not supposed to be there. Been so long they've naturalized and the cities have no plans for eradication. Even if you cleaned every one out, dormant seeds would soon sprout and all that work would be for naught. It would be a never ending job. (talking more to the buckthorn here).

Update: All Failed.

Out of about 150 seeds, only about 30 germinated (may have been my fault). Out of those about 20 sprouted in cups of soil.

Probably my fault again but it appears they don't like it too wet. All but 6 died in the basement window, waiting for warmer weather so they could be put out side. The last ones died, I think because it got too hot in the sun on the black metal table with the Opintia (Opintia didn't mind it at all). lol!

Even the potted one in the above picture from last year finally gave it up.

So nbd. I really didn't need any and hated to give any away. Just thought I'd post up so the haters can celebrate. j/k :-))