Amur maple?..

Acer ginnala would be my guess as well.

Thanks to you both! I would have never known how to find that info. I'll keep it. Could become something one day...

As short as the internodes are - it should make a good very good maple for a container or as a bonsai trainee.

Al

Good to know! Need to save it from the incoming cold now. As well as all the other trees. It is starting to freeze at night, for the first time today, and it gets back to 45-55 during the day...

If it’s hardy in your area and self sowed into the ground I don’t think it needs ‘saving’ from the cold. Maybe a bit of chicken wire if you have pests that eat treelets.

Yes, Acer ginnala, Amur maple, is extremely cold hardy......zone 2!! Even in a container, it would not require any winter protection in your zone. In zone 7, I'm not even sure I'd bother protecting containerized JM's.....unless the temps drop into the low 20's and remained there.

Okay gardengal48, even if my pots are on the balcony with some wind? Many are small pots too, 4 inches.

Will do!

Do try to protect them from wind, and toss a little snow on them or water them occasionally, so the soil doesn't dry completely.

Al

Got it. I got clear large plastic bags i started making wind breakers with.

I'd go with sone 3 foot chicken wire as well. In my neck of the woods, in winter, rabbits will eat every bud from the ground to about 24". not good if its under 5-6 feet tall!

I'd def do that if it was a yard but I'm growing on my balcony. Only wind and deep cold seem to be the threats at the moment.

If it's Acer ginnala, cold won't be an issue, but you should try to protect it from wind - especially if/when water in the soil is frozen.

Al

Was at freezing temperature last night and on its way to go down to -15 C over the next 24 hours so I decided to finish winter preparation and insulated and bagged all my pots. I watered them with outside temperature water 2 days ago as it was around 40F outside in preparation for this intense drop in temperature. Hopefully nothing will die from last night alone. It is very windy where the pots stand with the wind tunnel and just a really windy day, much more than average. I will water them with outside temp water (which is frozen solid in its tank right now) as soon as the temperatures go back up above ~35F.

Now the little tree in the picture on this post is just a twig. The leaves all got killed in one frost overnight a month ago, but I had forgotten how pretty it actually is in leaves and can't wait to see what it will do in the Spring.

Other way around maybe? A few months ago I read here that if the plant is hydrated well it can better resist frost damage.

I've heard cool and dry equals dormant..cool and wet equals rot..

So my trees are now frostbite and rotting? :)

Just what I needed...

val rie..I hope not!..just passing along an expression that I heard..I've never grown a tree in a container..I'm not qualified to give you advice..

The seedling made leaves in spring and lost them after i left on vacation for 3 weeks. The trunk also seems dry. Waiting to see if it will get leaves again but it seems late. Could be dead. It was in fast draining soil so needed to be watered a lot more.