Spring is Here
We've officially marked the first day of spring a few days ago but as I said in a recent video, I think for most people who care for Japanese maples, spring arrives when those leaves start magically unfurling on your trees. The pinks, yellows, chartreuse greens, purples, oranges, reds and all of those incredible colours on our trees are simply amazing!
Soon we'll begin shipping our orders out. Thank you all for your enthusiasm for your orders already. Of course, once we begin shipping that will also be the time that any orders going forward will be shipped soon after they are received. The first Monday after being received in fact. Exciting times ahead.
So, we don't officially have these trees in stock yet nor are they added to our website inventory, but I wanted to show you a list of some 2 gallon trees we expect to receive in the next few weeks. There's a few varieties on there we don't yet carry and a a few that we have/had carried so great news on both fronts. Here's the list (in two parts):
Also, a heads up to anyone fortunate to be gardening already (this means you coastal folk), it's getting close to that time of year when root pruning is best done, if required. This is best done before the tree leafs out in the spring. Depending on the severity of the rootball growth the pruning could be as simple as shortening any circling roots. Or, if more dense and having not been repotted in several years you can take a saw and cut off a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the outside of the rootball, as well as the bottom. Repot with some fresh media, which should be a mix of composted and fresh fir or pine barks with large grain sand or perlite. Episode 16 on our YouTube channel talks about container soil options. Find it here: What to Use for Container Mix I don't recommend washing the old potting mix off the rootball. This is just too much of a disturbance and not necessary.
Early spring is also the best time of year to fertilize your container trees. I say container trees because you could forget about fertilizing landscaped trees if you wanted to, particularly after they have been in the ground a couple years. Container trees however, are depending on you for their growing needs. As for what to use, try to use organic granular fertilizers such as those offered by Gaia Green, Welcome Harvest Farm, Frankia Organics and Fox Farm. A balanced 4-4-4 or similar is great or something in the single digit numbers. You can also use fertilizers meant for acid-loving plants such as roses, azaleas and evergreens. When the N-P-K (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) numbers on the package/box get above 10 then those quantities are getting too high for Japanese maples. In the natural environment growing conditions aren't going to have such excessively hight macronutrient quantities like you see in some manufacturers fertilizer products.
Contact me if you have any questions about fertilizing or root pruning.