Winter care of your container grown Japanese maple tree

In this video I show you how to care for your container grown Japanese maple trees over the winter months.
More video's to come to guide you along with all the care and growing tips for your favourite specimen.
Thanks for watching!

[@Northernzonepusher]

Your videos are fantastic and incredibly helpful. I'm going to be trying to grow a few acer palmatum in containers in frigid Saskatoon, a climate that is completely hostile to Japanese maples. I plan on overwintering them in a garage heated to 2-3C. My worry is that the transition into dormancy and out of dormancy in the spring may be tenuous, but I'm willing to put in the effort for these beautiful trees.
My plan is to keep the maples dormant, and transition them outside to experience the natural warming of spring, which happens here in mid-April. Historical temperature minimums were around -3C-0 in April, and 0-3C in May, reaching 8-12C minimums by the end of May. What temperature do you think it would be safe to emerge maples stored at 2-3C outdoors?
In the fall, what would be low minimums that a container grown plant could tolerate before needing to be moved into the 2-3C garage? I want to extend the season as long as I can.

[@maplesandmusic]

Thanks for the kind words Calvin.
. Yes, you can move your container grown trees into your garage for winter. Many of our trees went to cold locations like yours ( northern and southern Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan, to name a few places).
The palmatum root stock can hand cold temps. Even here in Chilliwack we get over -20C with arctic outflow winds a couple of weeks each year. Our larger container japanese maples all do just fine.
As a general guide I would recommend getting your containers into your garage when the sustained cold weather begins just before freeze up. In the spring make sure the most severe frost is over as the new growth is fragile with heavy frost. Wait until your long range forecast shows no more then -1 / -2 for over night temps.
Also very important to water your trees approx once every 3 weeks during the dormant months in the garage to prevent the roots from drying.
You can also put a 2" layer of fine bark mulch onto the containers in the spring when you place them outside to help protect the surface roots.
Good luck! and nice full moon Japanese maple in your image photo!

[@Northernzonepusher]

@@maplesandmusic Thank you for that informative reply. I will follow your advice and endeavor to keep them alive. I had two unnamed 2 year old whips that I overwintered in an unheated garage as an experiment. I may have not watered it enough. Curiously, the trunk seems to still be alive, but I suspect the roots have all been killed as the maple has not leafed out. I will endeavor to do better this winter.