Shelley, First, sorry that I misspelled your name in my first response. You wrote: "Here's a question: Crushed lava rock-what size should the bits be?" As in so many things in life the answer is, it depends. If you are serious abbot bonsai you should purchase/make a set of sieves or screens in various sizes. Without them sizing your soil or components will impossible. Now on to the question; I have a series of screens in progressively larger sizes. The smallest could be described as coarse window screen, about 1/16 square, whatever passes through this is literally dust and is discarded without a second thought. The next size up is 1/8 square; whatever passes through this but remains on top of the smaller size is retained for limited use. This size is really pretty small for most purposes, about the only thing I use it for is seedlings or cuttings, both of which will be transplanted in a short time frame. The next size up is ¼ square; whatever passes through this but remains on top of the smaller size is used for most of my trees. And on and on, it is up to you to decide the most appropriate size for various applications. Larger trees and conifers can be potted into a coarser mix. Vermiculite and Perlite are both in-organic soil amendments, I much prefer Perlite for most applications as the texture seems more appropriate for most of what I am doing. I hope that this answers some of your questions. Norm

I am very surprised, vane, that none of the 125 maples germinated true to type, which characteristics would place it under the name 'specie'. A cultiva is either a sport or a hybrid created by nature or man and quite often is sterile (not producing seeds) or producing seeds which never germinate. If they do make seeds then the seedlings will show much variation, though some may become true to type. I have a specie Palmatum Athropurpurum whose seedlings are true to type nearly 100%. AS far as I know Bloodgroup is not a specie, so it must be a sport or hybrid. That explains why the it is sold as a stem-grafted plant and not on its own roots.I mentioned earlier there are 600 varieties of J. Maples, majority of which are cultivars. When we say 'red' J. Maple, often the color is not a true red but a purplish red or dark scarlet especially if it is the specie Atropurpurum. One example of a truely red leaf J. Maple is the cutivar called chishio, its leaves remaining red in summer and its red tone deepens in autumn. The family name of all maples in the world is Aceraceae, then its genus, Acer or Diteronia; under Acer then you have the Section and Series, like the palmatum. Under the series we come to the specie, under which we then have the sub-specie. Most of the Japanese maples we come across belong to the largest group Series Pamata. In this Series the 2 largest and common species are A. japonica and A. palmatum. Also we are familiar with the A. palmatum dissectum where the leaf is fernlike and either appearing in green or red (A. palmatum dissectum atropurpurum). This red specie has given rise to most red dissectum in the nursery like Crimson Queen, Ever Red,Inaba Shidare and a host of lesser known red dissectum. The third well known species of palmata is the 'Full Moon' Maple and its fall color is bright red or translucent scarlet red. It has large green to bluish green leaves in summer, 7 and 9 lobes per leaf and belongs to A.japonicum under the specie aconitifolium. New seedlings give much interest and may become new hybrids but have no registered names yet. One example is red leafed palmatum. It basic leaf color is a strong maroon or black red and has a varigation of crimson, which sometimes appear as specks or in large patches covering even a entire half lobe. I have only seen pictures of it and not yet in the nursery. Outside of Japan we have other Genus maples native to the country, like in China where the leaf form is nowhere near the normal maple shape and the fall coloration is less marked. In the NW continent we have our own vine maple, which comes into the Series Palmata Vine Maple and its specie group is A. circinatum. England can only claim one native maple i.e. the Hedge Maple, which grows into a bushy tree maybe 12 feet high or if trimmed in a row makes a good dense hedge. 'Amur Maple' which hails from Europe has green leaves looking more like a beech than a maple, but its autumn red color is most outstanding. The Acers have become so numerous and complex that taxonomists in the world are splitting hairs in their claim of classification. The interrelationship of acers within the series become important when you move into propagation by grafting. Varieties within the same specie are most compatible when it comes to cambium union and the crown becomes impossible to differentiate as the plant matures. However we have known of other cases of successful grafts of acers outside its own section, but this is rare. The best way to decide if a particular plant is a maple is to look at the fruit, which must be twin blade with a seed in each blade, called 'samara'. When it is fully ripened, the blade falls n spins like a helicopter blade, much to the delight of children in my grandson's pre-school class during his show n tell period. I love J. maples and often visit my friend's farm of 2 acres, planted mostly with J. maples. When planted in masses its autumn cloration is spectacular and out of this world. I hope this note offers some insight into the wonders and complexity of the term Japanese maples.

The soaking/stratifying procedure you describe is best. However, I have had good results myself with tossing samaras with damp peat and leaving them in the garage over winter. But most people follow the procedure you outline. I have no idea about the dissectum seed. I collected some last year, but they did not germinate.

Kumakitty, seeds are easier to get a lot of Japanese Maples, but none can have a commercial name because a seed is not true to it's parent. Japanese Maples pop up all over my garden also. I rescue them and grow them on. Sometimes I grow them in flats from maples I particularly like. All done outside in a protected area. I don't have all the stratification issues and bother of growing them indoors. A lot can go wrong inside. I'm not home all the time, etc. Grafting takes time, materials, preparation and knowledge. Plus you have to grow the understock. That's why grafted plants are more expensive than plants grown from seed. If I remember right, from my working with a Japanese landscape crew years ago, kuma is bear in Japanese. Mike