Funny to see what the real story was behind what the poster lkz5ia claimed told him to "burn down the forest" haha. As for my exotics, I have some very effective management practices in place. Anything that may be harmful to the locals (plant animal, or human)I am extremely careful with or leave out altogether. Rest assured you will never see anything about a rogue Sorbus pallescens population choking native species in upstate New York. If you have to fight nature to get anything to grow due to your prairie environment, you're in the wrong place to be doing what you're doing. In my case I found a farm that has been cultivated for nearly 300 years, complete with big north facing slope for a peach orchard and sheltered ravine for things that might not otherwise have a chance. Location, location, location. To compare my practices with yours (and most of the other folks that have participated in this thread) is absolutely ludicrous. You can't reasonably expect to come on a forum like this, flaunt a "management practice" like THAT, and not expect people to raise some concerns. Nothing I do with my planting is risky, period...but thanks for calling me a riot- and a hypocrite. I'd like to also thank you for saving me the trouble of bringing up how each region (and ecosystem) calls for different protocol. Unfortunately you just don't seem to realize that yours could not be more wrong. That is, unless you start paving over the areas as well (I almost said "or plant Ailanthus"- but you actually have done that!). Beleive it or not, this is actually a topic I have spent a large amount of time and money studying AND implementing. I tried to be quite civil in my messages, but by all means continue your name-calling and foolish posts. They are becoming amusing and a "you won't beleive what this guy is doing" type story for my coworkers and other local landowners. Anyone know the conservation status of American Elm in Iowa?

Even though it's 4.5 years later, this thread has come back to life. I'll update things for any interested readers. Lumber and timber markets for most species hit rock bottom in '09 after the financial/housing bust. Both volume sold/cut and prices paid were shockingly low compared to historical standards. Many loggers and sawmills went out of business. I advised many clients to not sell in '09 and just let the trees grow. Things picked up in late '09 and into '10. Timber/lumber prices for many species like red oak, ash, white oak, yellow poplar, etc. came back to more normal or acceptable levels and buyer interest and enthusiasm also improved. Hard maple and cherry are still off the sky high prices hits in '06/'07. Walnut, due to its scarcity and great international markets, never dropped that much through the financial crisis, especially for veneer quality trees. For example, I sold veneer quality black walnut trees/stumpage in Feb. '09 for $8/b.f. These were 24-28 inch diameter (chest ht.) trees, 60-75 years old, growing on excellent soils in a healthy (no fire history, cattle grazing, etc.) forest. This is obviously not typical, but it does show the potential for great returns with walnut. Things have been pretty steady in the central hardwood market where I work and more landowners are selling this year to take advantage of 15% capital gains tax rate that will likely go away soon due to budget deficits. Planting and growing trees for future timber harvest is very dependent on local site conditions and local timber markets. Advice given based on different geographic locations with different tree species/markets doesn't really apply to someone in southeastern Ohio (originally poster's location). Seek the advice of a professional forester in your area before making any important decisions.

I'm from The Netherlands and live about 20 miles from van Son & Koot. They are one of the leading Japanese maple propagators over here. An innovative company with a good reputation. It propagates many of its Japanese maples through cuttings as this is much cheaper than grafting (labour is expensive over here). How they exactly propagate JM from cuttings I do not know but my guess is that a misting system, additional bottom heat and a rooting hormone are required. I've seen Acer palmatum Atropurpureum, Katsura and Wilson's Pink Dwarf from cuttings and they do very well. In one season they grew from 1 foot to 3 to 4 feet with very good branching. Propagation of Japanese Maples Through Seed -- collect fresh seed in the fall as samara's go from green to brown -- I prefer sowing JM outside for natural stratification and not via the artificial method (putting seeds with slightly moist sowing compost in a zip lock bag in the fridge) as I experienced seeds germinating in January/February in the zip lock bag in the fridge and having trouble growing them on. -- cover the sowing with grit to prevent weeds and mosses like liverwort. Cover the pot with chicken wire or something like it to prevent animals or birds from having a go at your seeds (mice like JM seeds). -- Put outside in a somewhat protected spot but where the weather elements can reach it (probably incorrect English but I hope you understand what I mean!) -- Just wait. -- More waiting ... -- In (early) spring with rising temperatures a big amounts of the seeds will germinate. Don't expect that all the seeds will germinate because this does not happen in nature either. Some seeds will germinate in the second year after sowing. If you got 'old' seeds (i.e. not from the current season) more seeds will germinate in their second year than in the first year (but you can be lucky of course) This is one I did earlier: Japanese maple seeds that started to germinate in the zip lock bag in the fridge:

Before adding water, pop a few out of the pot and see how wet or dry the rootball is, then make a decision as to water or not. I assume they are outside in partial shade. The more wind, the faster they dry. Mike