Saflax - Bonsai - Red Maple - Acer rubrum - 20 seeds - Frost-hard Outdoor Bonsai with deep red autumn colouring. With germfree and permeable potting substrate based on coconut fiber for suceessful cultivation. Worth knowing: The Red Maple has indeed a magnificent colouring and grows a gorgeous oval-shaped crown. With its fiery red colouring during autumn, the Red Maple brings a piece of Indian Summer into your garden and your home. Its small and initially bronze-coloured leaves are basically five-lobed. Even young trees bloom early before the leaf formation, with red blossoms that come with thick inflorenscences on slim stalks and exhale a light honey-like scent. By the way, the Red Maple leave is shown on the Canadian banner.. Natural Place: The Red Maple has its natural habitat mainly in eastern North America, from the Atlantic Coast to the Appalachian Mountains until close to the Plains. Cultivation: Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. To increase the germinability, you should keep the seeds initially for about three weeks in the freezer and place them afterwards for another 24 hours in warm water for priming. Press the seeds gently into moist potting compost, put just a little compost earth on top and cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out. Dont forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature about 20Celsius and keep the earth moist, but not wet. The first seedlings will come up after four to eight weeks. Place: The Red Maple prefers a bright and sunny spot. A light shaded place is also possible - however, the magnificent colouring in autumn comes out best in full sunny places. Care: The rooting of the Red Maple can cope easily with most soils and tolerates dryness as well as fresh-moisty earth. From May until August you may give fluid fertilizer for bonsai plants every two to three weeks. You should start pruning only from the second year on. To achieve a solid trunk formation, the branches should not be cut more than once or twice a year. In the rest of the twigs, you can cut the new sprouts to two pairs of buds since in the maple tree develops always two buds opposite of each other with the next pair of buds shifted by 90 degrees. When pruning to two pairs of buds, you always keep one pair pointing to the left and one pair pointing to the right that way, the leaves dont interfere with each other. Younger bonsai are replanted at intervals of two and older plants only every five to ten years in commercial bonsai soil with the addition of lava or pumice chippings for better drainage. Reduce the root ball by about one third and remove matted roots completely. During Winter: The shiny autumn leaves are being cast off rather late. The tree is completely frost-resistant even up to -30 Celsius. However, in its first years it can be sensitive to late frosts, and should therefore be protected by earthing up some foliage. Bonsai: Yes Picture credits: Because of technical limitations links are shown as text. 24138-acer-rubrum-seed-package-front-german.jpg - Bon Yu Chu - About : Contact SAFLAX - .de/copyright 14138-acer-rubrum-cultivation-instruction-german.jpg - Frank Laue - Saflax - .de/copyright 14138-31-Acer-rubrum.jpg - Bon Yu Chu - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -