I have some planting and potting questions for my maple autumn blaze tree seedlings.

[montecarlo1987]

Hello. I have a few questions to ask you. I just purchased an Autumn Blaze maple seedling - actually 3 of them. They are all about 8 inches tall with all the very few recent leaves having fallen off them. They all have entered dormancy now. I received all 3 seedlings bare-root. The small time nursery is from the Springfield, MA area. I live in Upstate NY in a hilly part of Appalachian Mountains 3 hours west of NYC or hardiness planting zone 5. I have some questions to ask you about planting and potting trees this time of year. Please answer by question number below. I hope you can please help me.

1. If I decide to pot one now and transplant it next spring into the ground, can I leave the pot in indoors during the winter months? Is this recommended?

2. If I decide to plant it in the ground now (Upstate NY area, hardiness planting zone 5), how much time do I have left (what weather conditions permit/prohibit) this fall season before I am forced to pot it?

3. How big (deep and wide) of a pot do you recommend me to have or use for the over the winter months for a autumn blaze (if you recommend it)?

4. If I do decide to pot one, how often should I water an autumn blaze plant in the pot?

5. If you advise me to leave it in the pot *OUTDOORS* during the winter months, WHEN do I water it?

6. If you advise me to leave it in the pot *OUTDOORS*, do I leave the pot away from snow as to prevent the pot from becoming a potentially snow covered pot or not? Explain if need to.

7. How far in the ground do I plant it when the time comes or I do it now in the fall time?

Please reply ASAP.

Thank you!

 

[TreeLogic]

I don't know much about your area but as a rule I think I'd be more comfortable putting them in the ground. However, your seedlings sound pretty small so it certainly seems doable to put them in pots, temporarily. Normally when graduating from a smaller pot to a larger one I have found that your tree needs to be ready for the larger pot and you shouldn't do it too early. I usually wait until there is a good display of roots filling up a particular size pot before it's time to graduate. So with that in mind, I'd plant them in a pot that's a little larger and deeper (maybe 2-3" larger) than the current width and depth of the root system. As far as indoors or outdoors in winter I'll leave that to someone that's more knowledgeable but just remember, a potted plant has to be watched. They're much more susceptible to drying out because the pot is exposed on all sides, and can lose its moisture much more rapidly than the ground. For that reason, if they're outdoors I like to pile some mulch around the outside of the pots, or maybe bury the pot about a 1/4 of the way down into some mulch, on the outside of the pot. This helps to keep the water from draining away too quickly and might give you a little extra time should you forget to irrigate. Certainly on young plants that are outdoors in harsh winter conditions I'd suggest covering them on the worst of nights. If you do decide to pot them, make sure you use the right soil mix. What works in the ground will not work in a pot. They're two different worlds. Hopefully someone else can add to this.