Wow.. that really is a long time to germinate. I should be happy I have 3 that sprouted after 6 months. Hopefully I get some more germinated. I think I will remove the lid from one of them and see which 'takes' better. I don't want mold or anything. I'm not sure about transplanting them again into another medium. I should have read here first, but was too excited I finally had some sprout. The reason I am afraid to give them light immediately is that whenever I first transplant lettuce, broccoli, etc at my grow lab setup, the plants tend to struggle for a couple days with many perishing from the bright fluorescents on their baby leaves (just 4 shop lights, 8 bulbs). If I put them outside my back yard, which acts like a lens believe it or not (the sun against all the light colored neighbor's houses + my own seems to radiant right into my back yard) I will surely fry them. There's not much shade due to the youngness of the neighborhood. I figured the safer bet was to give them indirect fluorescent light by putting them below the normal shelf as light comes in diffused from the sides to below. It'll give them a little to stretch toward. I knew about these seeds not producing true Osakazui trees. I just wanted some cheap and hopefully beautiful trees someday. I figured $8 and some change was worth the gamble. They may look uneventful or ugly, but that's the chance I already took. This is actually my second attempt sprouting trees from seeds. The first attempt was accidental. A hazelnut accidentally popped out of my hand around Christmas last year when I was on my back patio briefly and I couldn't find it. Sometime in March I was adding mulch around my rose bushes and found the nut had actually cracked its shell with a root coming out, so I brought it inside and potted it in vermiculite. The plant is about 10" tall now. I currently have it outside in a pot. It inspired me to intentionally try germinating trees from seeds, so I went over to eBay and here I am now. :)

Here's pics of the new tree by the old Sango *sad face* I hope it stays green due to the burgundy shubs around it. I would like to know though, is this kind of JM is safe about 10 to 15 feet away from the house & if the roots get massive ? I liked the smaller 15' full grown size of JM's & that's why I did choose the Sango at first. This tree is tall *hard to see pic well* & does seem more bare in the middle. Should I let this go to fill out ? Proper way to keep this tree topped *so it don't get huge* & when to do ? Should I keep the trunk wrap on it to help with winter bark split ? Seems our Sango got this in this area planted. If it's safe to leave on the tree, we will , but , for how long ? Any other pointers or tips you can give, please share. I wanted our pretty Sango to make it , but , now I must plant another. I just want a pretty *green* long lasting hardy JM for this side of our house. Thing that really scares me is, I think I bought one similar to this kind on sale 2 yrs. ago when I got our Sango *also from Lowe's* & still have the tree with tag like this & all spring & summer this yr. it has been burgundy like the bloodgood & now starting to change to green some. I don't want this to happen to the new tree ! Need it to stay as is. Thanks, Jennie

Actually doesn't look too bad, considering the time of year and your location :-) But since it is being grown in a container, watering will be your biggest challenge. Depending on the size of your container, watering during the summer months or during any extended warm period may be required multiple times a day. There is nothing drought tolerant about Japanese maples, well-established or not, and inconsistant moisture levels can be just as damaging and stressful to the plant as having prolonged "wet feet". Personally, I think you'd do far better managing soil moisture and the tree would be much happier if planted in the ground. Coral barks get to be pretty large as JM's go anyway and will relatively swiftly outgrow a container and that can be a bother.

I'm overhwlemed with your wonderful compliments. Thank you so much. The build went so fast it was scary to pick and make final decisions so quickly. We built in 3 months and 2 weeks but I can tell you there was some one here every single day even on Saturdays except maybe 3 days. Doggonegardener - (love your name) the glass in the cabinet is seeded glass. I wanted something light to keep the open feel since my kitchen is so small I felt it needed all the help it could get. It has glass shelves and we added a light on the top so it lights all the way down. Vampiressrn and Yakkinyetti - Yes it's a walk in and I LOVE it. When designing the house I believe it was rhome (pardon me if not and I give credit to who it was) told me I should do a step in pantry to allow for more counter space and she was correct but with the pressure of DH and the builder to get things moving I gave in. The pantry is MAHHRRVVELOUS! I'll post a few pics at the end of this post. My builder did custom shelving which we like but he left a dead space in the back. If we had it do over I would have the custom shelves but leave the back open for more space. My DH has a small wine fridge on order which will go on one corner and we allowed venting for it. I love having everything easily reachable. I'd never had a pantry before and was concerned about the walking back and forth but find instead it's so convenient. My previous kitchen was larger as far as walking space but this one functions so much better. Pickle 2 - THANK YOU for your kind word about the piano nook. I'll share it with you anytime. My story about the piano is from when I was a little girl my mom bought this piano which is now 81 years old It was being rebuilt and was still unfinished and it nearly caused a divorce between my parents. My dad said NO and my mom pouted for weeks until he finally said OK.. then it was already sold to someone else. You can imagine my mom then! A month later the rebuilder called and said their financing didn't go through and we could have it. It's a Mason and Hamlin and is made of cast iron insides and weighs close to 900 pounds. YES.. 900 lbs! I've played since I was 5 and still play to this day. I've played for Sweet Adelines, for numerous churches and theatre productions and now mostly because I love it. When my family comes at holidays we stand around and sing old hymns, new songs and fun stuff. It's been such a big part of our lives that I can't imagine not having it. Sorry for the long story but.. there's one more small part. During the build I found a small old glass chandelier at a junk place but I'm not really a chandelier girl so I kept passing it up. Several visits later I saw it was marked down half price to $125.00 so I took it. They told me it was from the 1940's and needed re-wiring. I took it to a man here who rewires and would clean it up for $85. He said only once before in his life had he seen beter glass and it's from the early 1900's. Right now I have a LIGHT BULB there but soon will have this glass chandi hanging over the paino. I still have to get window treatments and will probaly just do swagged shears and nothing heavy. Any suggestions for window treatments? Jim's Discount Hardware has a booth at Canton Trades Day in Canton, TX. He's a very nice guy and I got all of my knobs from him which saved my shipping costs. I even got my glass knobs for the bathroom from him. THANK YOU AGAIN!!! Sunny