Never add rocks, gravel, pottery shards, etc. to the bottom of a container. Contrary to common belief, this impedes good drainage rather than enhances it. Just cover the drainage hole (and maker sure it's large enough or there are several) with a piece of window screening to keep in the soil.

Even very dwarf maples will fill up a pot that size before you know it. I grow all my maples in containers and that is about a minimum size container for any JM over a couple years old.

High quality potting soil is extremely important. You want one that is very barky and durable with a lot of texture to ensure good drainage and proper aeration over an extended time period. Something like the Gritty Mix discussed on the Container Gardening forum. fwiw, it is very difficult to find this sort of mix in a prepackaged form without needing to carefully amend to get to the right "consistency" :-)) The acidity of the soil is not so critical - most potting soils will be nearly neutral and that's just fine. You simply don't want it to be very alkaline.

I've linked to other discussions about growing Japanese maples in containers to provide some additional info.

Here is a link that might be useful: maple forum - JM's in containers

Thanks gardengal48.

Question. I was looking at some of those potting soil pre-made in a bag and they include manure in them. Isn't that bad for drainage?

I made a batch of gritty mix to test on my plumeria already. It's a lot of work and costs me about $50 fill up a big container. i have about 5 big containers that I want to put my maple in them. I'm planning to buy more maple in the future as well. Gritty mix is just too costly so I was thinking about buying something that is already pre-made.

Do you have any recommendation of a brand?

I was thinking about making the 511 mix, but I noticed that peat moss is part of the ingredient. When that thing dries up, it seems to be hard and dry.

Thanks for the link, I'll check out those threads.

thanks in advance,

This post was edited by May888 on Tue, Apr 29, 14 at 18:03