Dwarf Acer Saccharinum?

Durandal

Hello everyone, first post here.

A while back when I was around 8-9 I used to collect and plant acer saccharinum seeds. One year instead of all the seedlings dying from neglect, I potted them. About half of them were planted in a large well drained planter and the other half was planted in plastic lined wicker baskets. Both sets of plants were placed on a second story sunroof which faced southwest. Eventually the plastic lined baskets filled with water and leaves. The trees in the planter matured normally and were moved within two years, however the trees in the baskets did not grow much at all. In five years they grew approximately one inch each and maintained miniaturized features (Although they always looked like seedlings.) After five years though I neglected them through a drought and they dried up an died.

I have a few questions. What exactly caused my trees to remain drawfs? Has anybody done this on purpose and if so what is it called? and finally, should I try it again?

groundpounder

Welcome to Tree World Durandal.
It is hard to say what EXACTLY caused the dwarfism in your maples, but I can make an educated guess based on the info you gave us.
In simple terms, it sounds like the plants in the plastic lined baskets were kept under constant stress by being water logged. Roots need oxygen. Water displaces oxygen in the soil. Not enough oxygen to the roots and the plants may not develop properly. Conditions were probably just shy of being enough to kill the plant.

In my world, in the landscape, people will do this on purpose. When planting a tree a nice big hole is dug, and the tree is planted with the top of the root ball well below the surrounding grade, like in a bowl, so the tree can get "plenty of water". Has the same general effect as your plastic lined baskets. I will spare you what I call this.




I would encourage you to experiment all you want. It is fascinating how plants adapt and react to different environments, and there is nothing like seeing it for yourself. Maybe do some research on bonsai. Maples are a good plant for this technique.