wintering a maple tree in a flower pot

[Scott Coburn]

Hello,

I have a one year old maple tree in a flower pot. I rescued this tree from my gutters, placing it into the pot with the material from the gutter. It survived the transfer very well and is now about 30cm tall.

The tree has been out in our side yard, in the sun, for most of the summer. The question is: what should I do with it for the winter? I am worried that the roots will be too exposed to the cold, being that they are not buried in the ground. Should I bring it in the house?

The tree is located on Long Island, New York. The winters are fairly mild here. If it survives the winter I am planning to plant it in the ground next spring/summer.

Scott

[dr-solo]

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[SaintDan]

I grew a Maple tree in a large pot for about 3 years. I live in the Metro Detroit area of Michigan and our winters on average go down to 0 - 10 degree F. All I basically did was put the pot in the winter time was keep it out of the wind and sun and right next to the house. My only problem was a just grew like a weed and after the 1 summer I had to cut the top off when it reached 6 feet. I finally planted it in a friend's yard and it continued it's grow to a height of about 15 feet with two trunks forming a V..

Dan

[dstvns]

If this ONE-YEAR old maple is already 30cm tall, all bets are it's a norway maple, a weed in the northeast on the same level as kudzu in the south. If the leaves are very pointy and over 6-12 inches wide (normal native maple leaves are small, 3-5 inches), and are mostly turning yellow (native maples are mostly bright red), then please remove it. Pull out all the other ones in your yard, too (I'm positive theres several...dozens even), and then find a native sugar maple and take care of that one. Or an oak seedling, but they have deep taproots.

Dan