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Container Gardening

growing japanese maples in container in zone 5

8 years ago

Has anyone got a suggestion for best soil mix to grow dwarf Japanese maple, Crimson Queen, in a container in zone 5(mountains in Utah) I will move them inside when it starts to get cold,

Thanks

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Comments (5)

kay21_utahzone5b
8 years ago
I'm in Utah, too, and planning on growing one or two Japanese maples in containers. I haven't worked out the soil yet as my blueberries need to be repotted and I've been focusing on a soil mix for them. I think the maples would like a similar mix though.

Have you looked around the container forum much to see what others use. There are a lot here with great knowledge and experience. You can read about container soil basics here Container Soils - Al's most recent overview .

I think I'm going to go with a combination Al suggested to another Utah gardener; 5:2:1 mix of pine bark fines:Turface:peat. But I may use Gritty Mix for my Japanese Maples and increase the Turface some.

I'm not sure if that's what you are looking for.

Btw - by taking your maple inside during the winter do you mean into a garage? Any warmer than that and it won't be cold enough for your maple to have its dormancy period. which it needs. The garage is good place. Or you can bury the pot on the north side of your house for the winter or wrap the container well to insulate the roots, but still tuck it in a protected area against a north wall.

Hopefully someone will come along that knows more than I do (shouldn't be hard) and will offer any needed corrections.

Kay
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hnitka51
Original Author
8 years ago
Good morning Kay..Thanks so much for the info. I will browse further onthe forums on see what ideas people have. My first time to use this website, so I ma excited to have found such a trouvé of info!

I will put the trees in the garage, or give them to a friend who has a greenhouse for the winter. I didn't realize they needed a dormancy period, so again, you have given me great advice!

Good luck with your blueberries, that is way more than I could ever imagine..just getting my containers done in PC after all this rain has been an accomplishment. Hopefully they all survived last night with the temps at night.

Have a great weekend...
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My suggestion is to grow whatever cultivar you please among Acer Palmatums. Last year we did much better than those in traditional Japanese Maple zones with the area south seeing hot March temps followed by a bitterly cold April. Here, at least in the northern suburbs of Chicago we had cool temps that then warmed up in April like normal. I am in the process these past few years of trying to grow whatever cultivar I see as nice unless there is direct evidence of it not being able to grow here, or if it fails here. In many posts we have had here and in other posts most all cultivars (at least the most popular) have been successfully grown in this zone. I used to think that only a few select ones (i.e. Bloodgood, Crimson Queen, Red Emperor) did fine here. But after planting different cultivars and learning from others that they have and continue to grow many varieties of Japanese Maples I've come to the conclusion that "the shoe is on the other foot," that is, unles proven otherwise GROW WHATEVER CULTIVAR YOU WANT. However, just remember, nothing here will grow as full or big as say in the Pacific Northwest. Mine are wimpy compared to my parent's garden in Seattle. Also, my longest lived tree of five years, a Crimson Queeen, has not grown very much sisnce I planted it. However, many laceleaf Maples do well here. And, try to keep your JM's enclosed and protected by a hedge, a fence or barrier from open wind. Microclimates are very important. As I've done in other posts I will keep readers updated on what has done well, and what hasn't. I'm waking up from hibernation! It's been a long winter, and I'm finding that in the past couple of years rabbits do much more damage to my small plants than the cold due to the prolonged snow cover. More reason to get bigger trees! Those fared better becasue the branches were not reachable. Anyway more on this later since the ground is still frozen with snow.
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Japanese maples grown in a container in your zone must be overwintered in a protected location. That means a garage, unheated basement, greenhouse, etc. Just wrapping the pot is insufficient protection - temperatures that drop below around 26F can fatally damage the root system. Otherwise, a lot of Japanese maples should do well in your zone in the ground - zone 5 is generally considered the lower cut-off for these trees but location and/or microclimate can extend that. Look at whatever JM's are available in your area - otherwise, check out some good JM's for colder climates, like in the attached link. Here is a link that might be useful: JM's for a cold climate
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Almost any of them are okay. That's my conclusion. After much discussion here and experimentation with Acer Palmatums and Acer Japonicums in my yard the past couple of years it seems that the proof is in the planting which after last year's cold, icy conditions did not affect any except by way of being reduced by a desperate rabbit who could not get to their ususal forage because the ground was frozen for three weeks. You can follow many of the discussions we've already had on this topic, but anything I've planted in northern Illinois which does get zone 5a temps at times (but coldest lately -15 degrees) has not been affected. One guy in Chicago south of here, with the handle Dansgarden, pretty much has planted all sorts of less common cultivars too numerous to list here (five years running). My list so far (much less time than his trees) not including the more common ones: AP Nuresagi, AJ Aconitifolium, AP Ki-Hachijo, AP Red Emperor, AP Crimson Queen, AP Hogyoku, AP Red Dragon, AP Seiryu, AS Aureum. AP Villa Taranto survived the cold but not the predators. (By the way, an update on the other trees reduced by rabbits--except for the smallest ones they all came back with new growth and surprisingly are nearly as full as before). Actually, this year's unusual late frost in April following a warm March in the south killed off many trees, but up here the colder conditions in March and April actually did not affect the trees. Almost anyone will tell you that knows these trees that a late frost after the leaves come out in Spring can be the most destructive to these trees as many found out first hand this year. Other than that I think the burden of proof is now on the other foot: that is instead of saying which trees (here I'm only including Japanese Maples) are okay in zone 5, it should now be which trees are not good in zone 5. I think the only one I've heard not good in zone 5 is the AP Sango kaku, sensistive to the cold winds) and perhaps AP Katsura due to early leafing).
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
I'm pretty sure you'll find something of value in this thread, aimed at providing info on maintaining woody plant material in containers over the long haul.

Al
mblan13
8 years ago
I have been using Al's gritty mix for my containerized Japanese Maples with great success for 5 or 6 years now. After learning that I need to water every 3 days, not 3 times a day. (once I accepted the fact that this substrate DOES retain ample moisture!)

My JM's are doing extremely well!

I recently switched from 1/3 Pine Bark Fines, 1/3 granite and 1/3 turface to 1/2 Pine, 1/4 granite, 1/4 turface (2-1-1) because my bonsai book ( The Bonsai Workshop by Gustafson/Coussins) recommended more organic matter (50% to 66%) for JM's.

I just switched this April, so I don't have a large body of experience to go by, but so far it seems to be working out just fine.
kay21_utahzone5b
8 years ago
The greenhouse for winter storage may not be a good idea. Last year I asked a nursery owner, who's closed during the winter, if they store their plants in their greenhouses. He said "that will kill them because they get too warm". Since then I've learned (probably on Gardenweb) that it's the freeze-thaw cycles that are hard on container plants in the winter. A garage is cold enough without the freezing. Stored on north of house limits how much your container thaws during warm winter days. Greenhouses, with unregulated temps, really get too warm on warm winter days.

There are threads on this forum about overwintering pots that should be easy to find. I'm going to look into lining the inside of the containers with bubble wrap for winter and summer insulation.... :)

Kay
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