Maple Japanese (Acer japonicum thumb, fan, red) is a perennial deciduous plant that was grown in Japan. In total, there are more than one hundred species of maple. The 11-lobed leaves of this tree have a bright green color in the summer, and in the autumn they are painted in purple tones of extraordinary beauty. Once you see this spectacle, you can not resist the Japanese maple. Therefore, it is reasonable to wish to grow this plant on your own plot. Since in our latitudes such a tree is not very common, for its successful growth it is necessary to know how to care for the Japanese maple.
Japanese maple: care and cultivation on the garden plot
If you still decide to purchase a Japanese maple, then planting and taking care of it requires careful preparation. After all, the correct planting of the plant depends on its future: whether it will survive, whether its sheets will have the same bright coloring as it should be.
Well, maple will feel in partial shade. If it will be in direct sunlight, the leaves can get burned.
To grow it, use sour gardening soil.
To the tree has grown strong and enduring, it is necessary to fertilize the soil once a month in the spring-summer period. Winter feeding is not carried out.
Maple is very picky about watering. If this is a young plant, then it should not only be watered more often, but also provide a sufficiently large volume of water. During the summer, the tree is watered once a week, in the cold season - once a month. After each watering, we need to remove the weeds and loosen the soil to a shallow depth. This will avoid sealing the seat. If the soil is dry, the maple will develop very slowly.
How to grow a Japanese maple from seeds?
If you want to grow a maple from seeds, you first need to determine the type of maple, because not all of its varieties are propagated by seeds, some by inoculation or cuttings. For growing a maple from the seeds, the following types are suitable:
- Tatar;
- Ginnal;
- greenish;
- acicular.
Fall seeds start in the fall, then they need to be collected. First, the seeds are stratified: for at least 120 days they are kept in a cold room where the ambient temperature does not exceed five degrees. The best storage space is a regular refrigerator. Seeds are placed in a container with sand, which must be slightly moistened.
In April and May, you can start planting germinated seeds. To sprout faster, maple seeds are soaked in hydrogen peroxide for 1-3 days. After that, the seeds are ready to be planted immediately in the open ground. Before planting in the garden soil, you must first add peat, sand and humus.
Seeds of maple must be planted at a depth of at least three centimeters. If in the future you do not plan to transplant the seedlings, then the minimum distance between the seeds should be at least 1.5 meters. After planting, the seeds are watered. The soil must be constantly kept moist.
After seeding, the first shoots can be observed no earlier than two weeks later. It should be remembered that the maple grows slowly enough and it is necessary to have patience before the shoots look like a tree. During the growth period, care for Japanese maple is quite simple:
- watering;
- weed removal;
- weeding of soil.
With proper care in autumn, plant height can reach a level of 20-40 cm.
At a permanent location, the Japanese maple is planted after 1-3 years. Preliminary dig a pit 50 cm wide and 70 cm deep. The soil should be the same as in the germination of seeds. Additionally add humus or compost . Every year in the summer, fertilizer is applied to the soil for perennial plants.
Japanese maple is an unusually beautiful plant, which, with proper care, is able to rejoice the view of others.