If you have ever wondered about starting japanese maples from seed its a relatively easy process. I’ve had very good success over the last few years with the method I’ll describe below
- I usually buy seeds from a reputable source. You could always collect your own but I wont go into the details of that in this post.
- Soak your seeds in warm water for 24 hrs -48 hrs
- add several cups of potting soil, vermiculite or perlite to a gallon Ziploc bag or what ever size is appropriate for the amount of Japanese maple seeds your starting.
- moisten soil, it should be damp but not soaking wet.
- Add seeds to the bag, give it a few good shakes, and store in your refrigerator for up to 90 days. Japanese maple seeds need a cold period to sprout (don’t put it all the way in the back where they might freeze)
- I usually start checking the bag to see if seeds are sprouting around the 60 day mark and then every week after.
- Once you see that the seeds are sprouting you can pot them up, lightly cover with potting soil and place outside where they will get some shade.
I usually start my Japanese maple seeds so that at the end of the 90 days the danger of frost has passed. I have really good luck getting the majority of the maple seeds to sprout and those that dont sprout in the refrigerator get planted in a pot anyway. Sometimes they will sprout later on in the spring.
You could skip the process above completely and just put your Japanese maple seeds in pots outside in well draining soil in late fall early winter. Let nature provide the cold necessary for them to sprout. I usually have less Japanese maples seeds sprout if I go this route but still have quite a few that make it.