Brandy, As you say most trees are suitable for bonsai, Maples certainly are. Many people will say not to start your bonsai 'career' with seedlings, mainly because of the length of time they take to 'do' anything. This can lead to disollusionment with the hobby. So buying inexpensive raw material, e.g. garden centre shrubs or small trees gives you something tangible to work on and practice newly discovered techniques. However, seedlings are still appropriate, in fact in ancient times seedlings would have been the most likely starting point for bonsai enthusiasts, apart from collecting from the wild. Regarding your Maple seedlings, if you regularly pot them on, maples can grow quite quickly. Beyond that any other advice on pruning and root pruning etc can be read about in books - far to much to include here. You can also learn about modern techniques e.g. trunk chopping and so on. Good luck Nick

"We also learned that the potting mix the JM's arrived in was heavy on the bark side.This is commonplace with all growers and grafters of JM's. It ROTS within 6-12 months, so the bark must be removed from the JM's whenever you up-pot...... Remember this: Growers don't ship plants with sustainable soil. It only lasts 6 months." I am going to disagree with this :-) While I don't do it commercially, I grow all my JM's in containers and have for many years.......my oldest is approaching 30 y.o. And my potting mix is and has always been heavily barked-based as it produces a very freely draining, textural and extremely durable media. With this barked based mix (the 5-1-1 discussed intensively on the Container Gardening forum), I do not need to repot or refresh the soil for 3-5 years depending on the container and the size of the tree. Even at that point the soil is still in reasonably good condition. The location and depth of the perched water table is entirely dependent on the soil media being used, not the size/depth of the container. It is quite possible to maintain a small seedling or 1 year graft in a 4" pot or a larger, 7" deep trade gallon for as long as necessary before up-potting provided you are using a highly textural soil that allows for fast drainage. Due to the vagaries of soil physics and water movement, there will always be a PWT in the base of the container but the better the potting mix, the lower/thinner the PWT will be. The reason growers focus on bark-based mixes is for this very reason. They hold up well long term yet provide the aeration and very necessary fast drainage but the degree of moisture retention JM's are happiest in. And also maintain a low PWT. Although it would not be my first choice, your perlite based mix should offer a similar situation. However, I would encourage you to disavow yourself of the notion that a barked based potting mix deteriorates rapidly. 30+ years of using it and growing a large collection of containerized trees (a variety but primarily JM's) has adequately proven that to be inaccurate :-) I would also encourage you to read this thread on container soils and water movement thoroughly to educate yourself on the many qualities of a bark-based mix.

Hi Leslie I am sure you haven't missed the Mark in Growing Japanese Maples for Future Generations. This is my 1st year and I have only started growing these from Seedlings the past 8 months or so.The Seeds were gathered in the month of October 2015 and then carefully planted into Seed trays shortly after There has been so much Guidance and advice from Forum Members,particularly Gardengal - Houzi & Miketann. A Few members will surely Chime in to your posts whatever the Enquiry Happy Gardening Stephen in the United Kingdom

Thank you for that informative reply Cearbhaill A selection of these plants will go in the ground and a good few will go in containers.I will also give a few of these away to friends.. Using some for Rootstock will also be a consideration. I have found my 1st year in growing from Seed so enjoyable and am already Chomping at the bit ready to have another go come October. I think I will be far more prepared than in 2015 when the right time is to gather the seeds. I will post another Mix of Pictures in early September.Hopefully you can Chime in around that time and offer your opinion of their Progress Happy Gardening Stephen,Cheshire.UK