Maple Tree Seedlings

We were up in Wisconsin recently, and I brought back four maple seedlings. They appear to have survived four days in the car without problems (one of them even sprouted a few new baby leaves during the trip). They each have from two to ten leaves, and range from four to eight inches in height. They were windfall seedlings from the thousands of "helicopter" seeds the mature trees dropped.

I've potted them up using 1/2 potting soil, 1/2 perlite, with a sprinkle of bone meal and a sprinkle of Osmocote.

Any tips on transplanting them? I don't want the DFW (zone 8a) heat to kill them before they can get established, so I'm keeping them indoors under lights for now.

Those seedlings will sure have a rude awakening when you let them outside.

You probably have silver maple seedlings (Acer saccharinum), or maybe red maple (Acer rubrum). Both species should grow fine in containers for the short term, but I'd give them plenty of soil volume because they are prodigious rooters. They probably filled the container you brought them home in before you got them out of the car.

Tell us if you know what species you collected, and what type of environment they came from. If from the wild, the above are likely. If from a residential/planted landscape, then you may have just about anything that can survive zone 4ish.

Adequate water and some shade would be a good plan if you want to plant them out before going into fall/winter dormancy - I bet TX sunshine will give them a bit of a tan since they are used to the one week of summer usually accrued in WI.

You'd do much better to grow a local TX native maple that is adapted to the climate. The nicest is Bigtooth Maple Acer grandidentatum, look out for it at nurseries specialising in native plants.

Resin

I have an Autumn Blaze maple, which, if not native, is well-adapted to Texas.

These seedlings are red maple -- not the best for Texas, but I want them for sentimental reasons. When I was a boy, my father and I used to go to Wisconsin in the summer. We lived in the Chicago area, and brought seedlings back. They are now 40-year-old mature trees. When I showed them to my own boys, they couldn't believe those huge beautiful trees came from tiny seedlings, and wanted to do it with me. So it's a generational kind of project.

Traditions don't have to make sense. :)

I understand that. WI to Chicago is only football rivalry distance. WI to TX, well....

Good luck, and give 'em moisture.

Or could you start a new tradition and do the same project, but with a tree that's more likely to thrive in the TX climate? That way the boys can still see the whole seedling to huge tree thing, but the tree is more likely to still be there when they have their own kids and want to continue the tradition.

Or try both?

I have them in 6-inch wide extra-deep pots for now. I'll wait until they get over the trip/transplant shock, then move them up to patio tree pots, so the roots can expand out as well as down.

My current plan is to keep them outside on the covered patio until they've developed pencil-width or better trunks. That should give them a fighting chance.

When they're ready for real dirt, I'll plant them in the high dappled shade of some hackberry trees. The idea is to give them some shelter from the summer sun, while still giving them enough light. They're used to growing in/among birches, oak, and elm, so the light under the hackberries should be about right (a bit more shade, but much higher up, so they'll get short bursts of direct sun in morning/evening, but more shade in the middle of the day).

Different trees would be better, I know, but, with enough water and shade, I think they can survive.

Follow-up question:

We also brought back a number of "helicopter" seeds. They're maple, but collected from under an ornamental planting near a restaurant, so I don't know from which of several kinds they might have come. If I had to guess, I'd say they're probably from the big silver maple in the center of the group.

I transported them in a baggie with damp cotton. They are still green, plump, and happy. I'm keeping the baggie in the fridge.

When/how should I plant the helicopters?

RE: "Helicopter" seeds Try putting them in shredded wood mulch -2 to 3 inches thick. When the seed covering starts to turn brown they will release the actual seeds and start to grow. My yard is filled with these seedlings (this was a really a "bad" year for us but a "good" year fo them).
We have several maples - not sure which varieties. One person told us Silver then another said Sugar.
I weed out everything I can see in the AM but by the evening new sprouts appear. They just love the mulch.
If you want I can save a few and let them grow, then send them on to you.

Someone told me offline to plant them in a light soil mixture with bark bits. That sounds quite a bit like your shredded wood mulch environment. I've gone ahead and planted half of the helicopters. If they don't come up, I may take you up on your offer.

I'm a northern boy, and it's hard to be here in Texas without maples. They were sprouting like weeds in Illinois and Wisconsin this spring.

That should do the trick. If you water them it should speed up the process. However, I'll keep a patch and let them grow for you just in case.
Must have been "good" year for the maples in those areas too.
Last year it was the oaks that went crazy. Couldn't rake up the acorns fast enough. (By the way acorns do really well in the wood mulch too, we have hundreds of little oak trees growing now also!)

Oh, man, I miss the northern oaks, too. Live oaks grow really well down here, but the deciduous oaks don't flourish.

I was only a couple of miles away from you in June. I followed the lake from Buffalo to Sandusky. Very pretty area. The lake seems to moderate the heat for you.

You probably took 90 which is only a mile away. The lake helps abit but it also causes some strange weather conditions. As the saying goes, here in the Cleveland area, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes ! There are times when it will pour in our back neighbor's yard and we will not get a drop. We've gotten used to it.
Also our yard is 10-15 degrees cooler than most yards in the neighborhood due to the many trees, shrubs and other vegetation.
In regard to the oaks - I sent another member a box of acorns last fall (he also lives in TX),he is a teacher and wanted them for a class project. I wonder how they are doing.

If you don't mind sending some to me, I can have my boys plant them for a science experiment. Even if the won't survive, it might be fun and educational.

How long do they take to sprout?

No I wouldn't mind at all, but the the acorns won't start dropping until end of August or September depending on the weather. Remind me and I'll get your full address then through the D Mail section ( so your personal info isn't posted). There are at least 3 varieties of oak here - again I've never been able to identify which is which.
The ones I missed raking up last fall have all sprouted or are in the process of sprouting now, so I would say at least 9 months. Since they winter here in cold to f
freezing temps and also snow you might want to experiment with them in the fridge. Maybe some one else here can be more specific .


Got to go for now as they are predicting a possible thunderstorm and I need to get a few more things done outside. Get back to you later.
By the way - love the name of your town as it's our dog's name.

Overwhelmed:

If you could post pics of your oak seedlings (or elder states-trees), you could get an identification of them. Oaks generally fall into the white oak group or the red oak group, each of which have slightly different requirements and behaviors for germination of their acorns.

Both necessitate protection from rodents to guarantee seedlings, whereas maples don't seem to have as many interested predators.

VirburnamValley:

That is part of my problem, at this time I do not have the capability to post pix.
Between you and me the "tree rats" (squirrels) can have all they want. Our one tree produces more than enough acorns to feed the entire squirrel population in our neighborhood. In the early fall when they start dropping no one can sit outside comfortably without protection as the tree is about 20 feet from the house, so even though I love the look of the majestic oak it does become a problem.
I do intend to post pix as soon as I am able.
From what I have read the "big" tree does appear to be a Red Maple as the acorns are a chestnut brown with stripes. The other oak we have has a light brown acorn with no striping and the acorns are elongated and approximately the size of a nickel . Again as soon as I am able will post pix. We have so many other trees, shrubs and whatnots I need to identify and trying to identify them from websites is difficult.