Potting Maple Seedlings 

I rescue maple seedlings from the gravel shoreline of the Mississippi river near my home. They sprout every year only to be washed away during storms, so I grabbed several dozen. I have 41 potted up and healthy right now.

You, Sir have inspired so many of us. Thank you so much for the knowledge you have shared. I'm 62 years old but at least I will leave many nice bonsai for my family when I'm no longer here.

i love that you just "plunk" it in the pot. makes me feel like i have a chance at gardening too :)

Planted maple seedlings for the first time because they were popping up all over my property. I could start my own nursery from all of these seedlings. Thank you for sharing. God Bless!

Wow okay so here's a crazy story, I started making bonsai a while ago and I found Peter to be the best creator on RU-vid, he's great! Anyways, a few weeks back I was wondering about wisteria trees and making bonsai with them, boom that day Peter makes a video about it. I was in a garden store a few days ago and was talking to the worker about maples and looking at the maples outback for seedlings etc, now here we are! But wait, its gets weirder ... A couple weeks ago my dad found a bonsai book at a opshop and got it for me knowing I already had a few and sure enough the author of that book, you guessed it, it was Peter! Haha I guess the storys not that crazy but if you've read this far i hope you enjoyed :) Keep up the beautiful work Peter! Stay safe out there guys!

I overwintered 24 seedling Maples last year and 21 of them survived. Thank you Peter for show casing the possibilities. I've always enjoyed your frugalness and insight.

I love that you save them. Every little tree gets a chance to be a beautiful bonsai! Thank you again for the video.

I found one maple seedling when i was helping plant pansies. It looks much bigger than than these ones. I just have the one, but i love it so much! I named it Mabel, and it has beautiful deep red leaves. When i showed my mom, she raised her eyebrow and thought i was crazy, and she laughed because she thought i was goofy for naming a tree and wanting to raise one 😜. But i dont care, i love my maple 😂

Pulled up a few of these a couple years ago. A few died over winter, but one has done very well and is being trained on its way to a beautiful bonsai ❤️

I’d love to walk around and have that many seedlings just growing at my feet

I saw the other video Peter made on collecting and sowing Acer seeds. I was out on my bike near Bournemouth last autumn and cycled under a stunning Acer. Sure enough it was covered in little "helicopters" as we used to call them as a child. They were brown and fully ripe and I put a handful in my pocket. I plopped them onto some compost and put them in a sheltered place away from squirrels for the winter and early this spring I had 8 little seedlings with the most beautiful leaves. I was over the moon. They are happily growing away in little pots now. Future bonsai for free! Thank you Peter.

Respect you sir.... The concept of "Nothing is wasted".... God bless you

Finally! Im so glad I found this video, its exactly what i was looking for because there are also a lot of maple seedlings (0-3 yrs old) in my yard

Thank you for your videos. I find your commentary and work inspiring in many ways. Nurturing the maples is inspiring because you are passing strength to the small things in you see in your life. You are growing and inspiring your viewers to do the same and we are the better for it. As a father with older boys, it’s great to see that there are so many ways to give strength and enjoy time in your garden. Thank you

I also have over 1000 different kinds of Japanese maple seedlings growing in yard, because I collected those seeds and seeded them in last autumn. They are good for grafting and color selection.

I told my mom to stop digging hers up and throwing them away so now I pick them up and I have about 40 of them growing, some grow pretty fast all are beautiful

In every video I learn more and more. Thank you Peter for your continued contributions to the world of bonsai and everything in between.

I am looking forward to visit your inspiring nursery. I live in Rotterdam and are slowly starting with Bonsai the last years. The 10 years before I was only just studying on it. Thank you for the kind en intelligent RU-vid tutorials. 🙏🏻❤️🇾🇪🇬🇧

I recently observed earth worms pulling maple seeds into their burrows. I think that is why it is so easy to find so many maple seedlings.

Added some wood chips in my backyard 1 year today , and noticed a Oak & 2-3 Black walnut seedlings growing 🌱 . Been scared to move them into containers/pots ... And this video gave me the courage to do so 👍

You Sir, are truly blessed. I am in awe at the blessings of good person. Well done.

I get lots of sycamore seedlings growing in the gravelled area of my garden. Lots of practice material.

What a work out for our back collecting those lovely seedlings..wouldn't mind spending an afternoon foraging there,looks fun. Bravo Peter.. Can't wait for the next video.. Cheers

Self replacing stock. Lovely. Thanks for the video Peter.

I did this last year and the squirrels stole them all lol - this year I will try again but I purchased a wire cage to put over them - now unless that squirrel is Hercules and lifts that cage I should be good lol

I had dozens growing in my gutters (cause I never cleaned them in 7 years), some had to have been several years old. I have them all in containers on my deck now to hopefully do something with them sometime. A few are a meter tall now!

Thank you for the video, I snaped my tree today trying to wire it and you help me look forward to growing new maples!

I enjoy finding and sprouting seeds of all sorts. One of my first deliberate tree seed attempts was Ginkgo Biloba . I now have five potted ginkgo trees.Other successes were white Wisteria tree of which i have only three and black locus (bean tree) which is now a prominent member of my front garden . It refuses to stop producing beans.

I found 11 or so Japanese Maple seedlings at an office building in their unkept landscape so I did some 'weeding' for them and I have planted them into appropriate soil. They're doing splendidly 3 months in and I'm planning on creating a Japanese Maple bonsai forest! That's the dream at least and your videos continue to inspire me to create beautiful bonsai.

So peaceful to watch

So many maple seedlings everywhere. They're quite strong and beautiful. Great video! ❤️

Good to know a better soil mixture to plant seedlings in. Thanks. Always enjoy your videos. Always learning.

You bring me so much joy

Thanks for this video. My fully grown maple has dropped seedlings everywhere - too beautiful to waste! I’ve repotted them and am looking forward to watching them grow.

I needed this 6 weeks ago. Thanks Peter!!

PETER I DID THE SAME THING THIS SPRING. AND I WALK AROUND STILL & FIND A FEW, I HAVE SO MANY WHITE BIRCH SEEDLINGS, OAK & LONG NEEDLE PINES. NEXT YEAR LOOKING TO BUY A 50' HIGH TUNNEL. IT'S ALOT OF CARE BUT I REALLY ENJOY IT. I WANT TO THANK YOU, WATCHING YOUR SHOWS MADE ME AWARE OF ALL THESE GREAT PLANTS. I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED BONSAI BUT NEVER REALLY NEW A MAINTENENCE PLAN WATCHING YOUR SELF GAVE ME ALOT OF CONFIDENCE IN DOING THIS WORK. THANKS AGAIN FROM CAPE COD.

I paused this video and went outside to prune some mulberry shoots, and right there at my feet was a beautiful little maple seedling! I was impatient and I accidentally ripped the root, so I'm going to try the rooting hormone and trimmed leaves trick. Thank you Peter, for the serendipitous teaching!

Hi mr chan love watching you with all the lovely bonsai! Talk about inspiration !,,,

I amused my mother when she discovered a tiny tree I had plucked from her raised bed. She was really tickled to see my tiny forest on my porch and now I can tell her how old they are.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It's just what I was looking for. Going to dig up my maple seeding and pot them in peat moss.

So many treasures on the nursery!

Yesss the maple seedlings are my favorite. I have a mature forest planting of them too from seedlings.

Such a good video on many levels! I will definitely go out and look under my maple tree for seedlings, and get started in pots. Also, thanks for reinforcing the thought that time spent even just walking and exploring in the garden is time well spent! Thank you for showing how to take them and start in pots... it helps so much to see you walk us through these stages, and enjoying all nature has to offer. If you ever had the time, would love a video on your dry garden. We treasured our trips to the various ones we saw while living in Japan. We will be starting one at our home in Tennessee within the next year, and would appreciate any thoughts and technique you have found useful in your garden. Of course, the subject of karesansui gardens is endless, I know..... but any thoughts you would have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, as always for your wonderful videos!

i wish i could work at nursery, if only i lived in the UK, thank you for creating such wonderful and informative content (and so much of it!)

Thanks for sharing all your knowledge

I was working a job at a clients house and they had hundreds lying around. I informed her about them and she told me to take as many as I wanted. I got 14 lol. I have Japanese maples at my house and have had them forever but no seedlings have ever popped up to my knowledge. Im very happy to have gotten these little guys.

You have the paradise 👍🏻😊

I have like 50 maple seedlings growing around the yard in various flower beds I plan to pot and grow. Then when they're a bit bigger I am going to transplant them to permanent homes. Thanks for the video!

I’d never go to work if I had that many trees to get my hands on lol love your channel

I don't have any Japanese maples in my yard. But I had some mulch brought in and now I have seedlings!

I have a few that came up from the neighbors maple, I dug up as much dirt as possible and transplanted out in the yard where I wanted them, so far they have all thrived, put up some cut old siding to mark them and also protect from wind and predators. And possibly me accidentally mowing over them lol. I even hollowed out an old stump, filled it with dirt and placed one there. Idk if it will grow, but will be interesting to see.

Oh my goodness, those maples pop up like weeds! (I wish!) I live in Brisbane, AU (subtropical climate) & managed to get 3 of my seeds to germinate using the cold stratification method, however, now I fear they will not survive since we are coming out of winter into spring. Has anyone had success with growing them in subtropical climates? & Peter, your bonsais are exquisite! 💕

I just adore baby japanese maples! I am going to grow a ton of them this next spring, I'm going to order seeds from exotic varieties and collect some in october hopefully.

So vigorous!

Now I’m never going to want t to cut my grass because all I’ll see is baby bon$ai trees!

Lovely.

Hahaha! Free trees! I get them all the time, from the mother trees that I have and also a wide variety of different trees from birds that hide and sometimes forget about the seeds they've hidden.

love Japanese Maple.

This is amazing, where i live ita so hot its even hard to grow the seed in pots but ficus are like a invasion haha

Great!

if only i can find that kind of maple seedlings here in Indonesia.. i wonder.. thanks for sharing. those are beautiful seedlings!

Nice video! When I dug up seedlings this Spring, I used the Peter Chan sphagnum moss method. I was wondering if you were going to show how you do your faux rock sometime?

we have a 3 year old red maple. HUGE side difference between 2 and 3 years. at 2 years, its the size of your seedlings, and at 3 years its 4 feet tall, growing 4 inches a day.

Mann how I wish I could visit! Beautiful garden. Wish you guys shipped to the US 💔

Sou grande fã dos aceres, quem me dera também poder ter assim a germinar no jardim.

I have found a tremendous amount of excellent information on Bonsai for your videos. Thank you for providing a wonderful opportunity for me to discover a life long rewarding endeavor. I did pot up 2 Maple seedlings, a new seedling and a 2 year seedling I pulled from the sparse wooded area behind my house. However, upon potting and watering, this evening I notice the leaves are beginning to turn upward on the edges. Is this condition terminal or maybe a transition period? Thank you for all the great information.

Nature finds a way

You're not lying when you say you don't like waste, Peter! That Morrison's carrier bag at 0:45 is ancient, ha!

Thank you sir :)

I’ll buy some, haha we have a lot of land burnt in cali fires and these would make great forest with little growing below them.

Ive been doing this in my backyard too! Most important thing ive noticed is to NOT do it during the hot summer, and keep the soil moist at all times for the first week or two

...and here I’m thought I had struck gold and now trying to grow roots from a little cutting. You certainly have a little maple “gold “mine.

I have one 40 year old maple in my front yard and thirty two 0-6 year-olds potted in the back; all from picking them out of the ground and gravel in the spring.

Hello. Nice video. I am new to bonsai and learn many things from you. I am inspired & recently collected tamarind seedlings here. I also planted it in small bags. Should I use larger bags until I put it to training pots? Tropical climate here. 😊

It's funny how many tree seedlings can be found in a garden. I pot them up and I have no clue that they are until they have grown bigger. I don't have so much luck planting seeds and getting them to germinate. However I can put grass seed on the lawn to no effect and find it growing beautifully in my bonsai pots. I think it must be birds to blame. Anyway thanks for another interesting video.

Rip me needed this 3 months ago haha but thats for the video!

I find two or three Japanese maple seedlings in my yard each year, although there are no parent trees within at least 100 yards. I'll be collecting them from now on to try to make bonsai.

I have three maple trees (hundreds of years old) and a oak that is really big too and there are a lot of little seedlings everywhere

I have hundreds of red maple trees that have sprouted in the neighborhood backyard, so I decided to rescue 1 of them before they all get mowed over.

Dear Mr Chan I enjoy your videos very much here’s my question I don’t know what the next step is for Japanese maples seedlings given me They are 7 inches long and are planted in small cups should I put them in gallon pots for a couple of years I would like them to thicken up I seem to miss that step and would appreciate your advice thank you

Thank you... 🙏 😔 🙏 Life is everywhere.

Hi Peter, I purchased a few different varieties of maple seeds from you last year fresh from Autumn harvest - Nomura, Ao Shidare, small leaf and Campbellii. All had good germination rates, especially the small leaf (I must have about 200 in one seed tray!) and Ao Shidare. All the Nomura seedlings have seemed to grow well and push their first set of leaves and since about June no more growth has happened. They have all started to drop their first pair of 'true' leaves, one or two have even re-sprouted this first set as if they have defoliated themselves. The Campbellii have also started now dropping leaves although they pushed a second pair of leaves. I cannot work out why it is happening to the Nomura (every single one!) All the seeds have been planted and cared for in the same way in the same location. The Ao Shidare are flying along and have produced a myriad of amazing colours! I will be most likely buying some more seeds in a few months... did your Koto No Ito flower-seed this year? Thank you if you have time to reply. Chris

Just ordered a Chinese elm online from your store, don't suppose there is any chance of a couple of these seedlings haha only joking. I will come and visit your nursery once we are able to. Would love to see the nursery in person. You sir are a master of bonsai. Thank you so much for your videos, I am slowly going through them all.

Would you be able to share some tips on how to transition seedlings into proper bonsai? I have a few maples which I've grown from seedlings, which are about 3 years old at this point and are beginning to fill out their trunks/branches. I'm not sure what my options are at this point in terms of whether or not I can begin properly grooming the trees into smaller bonsai, or if it might be necessary/better to wait a few more years for the trunks to fill in before I attempt to turn them into bonsai.

Because of the japanese maple tree in our yard and the neighbors, We find hundreds of little seedlings in our backyard.

Thank you for your videos, sensei. The moss in your lovely maple grove, would have any moss propagating techniques to cover a larger clayish area where there’s moss but seemingly very slow to spread. Maybe moss, like bonsai, is a patience game not can’t be rushed because on its multi stage lifecycle and spores are sensitive. I’m not sure if the moss/yogurt slurry is a dead end but it doesn’t seem to be proven and would make a big stink. Any tips, suggestions or video links to hasten the process would be greatly appreciated. Sub’d from Berkeley!

What’s your transplant survival rate?

I wish you could sell them. "Surprise maples. Which variety you would get? We don't even know" because they are so beautiful!

Mr. Chan...you see money in the long run, where a regular guy don't.

I got two Acer seedling yesterday... Hope they make it...

It's like Oprah was in your backyard 🤣

I've ordered seeds for maples from ebay so hopefully they will be good

Peter, I happened to have done this exact thing this spring, used peat moss and everything. Do you have any tricks for getting them through the winter? My winter may be a bit harsher than yours unfortunately. Thanks!

I was just looking at a lovely Japanese maple near my home and it had hundreds of seeds. These trees reseed prolifically, it's just that the owners weed them out or mow them down before they can make big trees.

I have a pot with a Royal Poinciana and a maple tree started sprouting next to it, i think thats pretty lucky.

These black spots have formed on this maple 🍁 tree growing on the front garden it’s about 3 feet tall with large fresh green leaves and a red trunk it grows right under the drainpipe for the guttering they are sprouting all over along with Buddleia

Hi Peter. I’ve made my first bonsai and it’s in a training pot. But I was wondering if it’s ok to put moss on the top of the dirt or is the moss only used when using bonsai soil?

Looks like my house except my seedlings are elm and mulberry ... ;-D

This spring was really good for new maple seedlings in my area. Do you grow your own moss for covering the soil around newly potted plants? I am of the Sokka style of gardening from last airbender~

I actually just did this a few weeks ago, with my Norwegian Maple "weeds" I used a 5 gallon pot for seedlings the same size as your bigger ones there. Did I go too big? I wanted more roots for thicker trunk.