Poor maples! I usually like deer...but not when they eat Japanese
maples. :-(

Best thing to do is to pot them in a container that won't freeze like
terra cotta will. Plastic is fine. Put the maples in an unheated
garage or basement after they have dropped their leaves for winter.
Since they don't have leaves they don't need light. You should also
cover the pots with mulch or something to insulate the roots so they
don't freeze during severe cold.

After the last frost has passed it's okay to bring them out again in
spring.

Layne

On Sat, 19 Nov 2005 20:40:02 -0500, Jim Blue
wrote:

I have several Japanese maples in my yard., spontaneously seeded
from a low-growing specimen tree. The tree has since been killed
by the local deer, who ate all the buds off every spring until
the tree died. The seedling maples are several years old, but
stunted from being nibbled on. This year I want to dig them up
soon, before the deer get at the growth buds, and try to develop
them as bonsai.

After I dig them up and pot them, this winter I have several
choices. Which do people recommend? And what kind of treatment?
1. West-facing window, indoors, normal temperatures.
2. West-facing unheated greenhouse.
3. Indoors under fluorescent lights.
4. Outdoors, perhaps moved inside if severe weather and winds
threaten.

This is in Maryland, zone 7.