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'Summer Red' Red Maple

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'Summer Red' Red Maple Empty 'Summer Red' Red Maple

Post  Ryan Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:06 pm

Hey everyone,


I bought this huge guy at the local nursery for a whopping $32.99. It was 80% off. Why? I dunno. It was 12 feet when I first saw it, but it is now around 2 feet tall. I chopped it and made sure I left quite a bit of buds. It is not a plain Red Maple though, the tag says 'Summer Red' Acer rubrum. So, we'll see what happens with this guy. I've heard all about them from people and online references, etc. This guy goes in the greenhouse to recover for a while. Comments are appreciated but not necessary Wink

'Summer Red' Red Maple 001-96
'Summer Red' Red Maple 002-99
'Summer Red' Red Maple 004-80
'Summer Red' Red Maple 005-68

Btw, the trunk is around 3 inches thick.

Ryan
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Post  bonsaisr Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:44 am

That is a long term project. You will need to do repeated trunk chopping to get trunk movement & taper. It is a difficult species, very hard to reduce the leaves.
Iris
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Post  Ryan Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:55 am

bonsaisr wrote:That is a long term project. You will need to do repeated trunk chopping to get trunk movement & taper. It is a difficult species, very hard to reduce the leaves.
Iris

Oh yes, that I am prepared for. I've read a ton of articles about the problems with these guys and I'm ready.

Ryan
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Post  JimLewis Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:57 pm

My! I'd suggest you chop it lower down closer to that one branch. It is going to take you many. many years to get Any taper in this tree and you don't wait it to waste energy feeding the top 2/3 of that trunk.

Once again I have to suggest to people buying nursery plants to NOT buy one that doesn't already have at least a partially swollen base and some taper. It is enticing to buy a tree with a fat trunk because of the time you think you will save, but it will take longer to get this one to have taper than if you bought a one-inch trunk with some kind of a base, and grew it to size after several chops.

All that said, you probably can get this one to eventually have basal flare, by planting it in the ground over a large tile, spreading the roots (with wire if necessary) and repeated ruthless chops, coupled with long side branches.

Good luck.
JimLewis
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Post  Ryan Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:56 pm

JimLewis wrote:My! I'd suggest you chop it lower down closer to that one branch. It is going to take you many. many years to get Any taper in this tree and you don't wait it to waste energy feeding the top 2/3 of that trunk.

Once again I have to suggest to people buying nursery plants to NOT buy one that doesn't already have at least a partially swollen base and some taper. It is enticing to buy a tree with a fat trunk because of the time you think you will save, but it will take longer to get this one to have taper than if you bought a one-inch trunk with some kind of a base, and grew it to size after several chops.

All that said, you probably can get this one to eventually have basal flare, by planting it in the ground over a large tile, spreading the roots (with wire if necessary) and repeated ruthless chops, coupled with long side branches.

Good luck.


Thanks Jim. The main reason I didn't chop it any lower is because I didn't want it to die. I had to ensure it would survive and so I left tons of buds as I did. I figured I would let it recover, let the buds extend, then pick one and make it a new leader and chop the tree. So Jim, being that it is still the wrong time of the year to do a trunk chop, do you still think I should be fine to chop it lower if I left buds?

Ryan
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Post  JimLewis Wed Jul 06, 2011 4:25 pm

In Va? I would think so. If it were mine I'd be concentrating on that branch that already seems to be there, not on other buds. Feed it and let that branch harden and become woody. New buds that pop now may not have time.
JimLewis
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Post  Ryan Wed Jul 06, 2011 5:56 pm

JimLewis wrote:In Va? I would think so. If it were mine I'd be concentrating on that branch that already seems to be there, not on other buds. Feed it and let that branch harden and become woody. New buds that pop now may not have time.

Thanks again Jim. I dunno, I feel like another chop would weaken the tree more. I think I'll fill in with soil where the rootball is exposed and then feed it with some bio gold and let it be until next spring.

I just filled the soil in:
'Summer Red' Red Maple 002-100

And took a picture of a new leaf coming out:
'Summer Red' Red Maple 003-93

And took a picture of the fertilizer I use:
'Summer Red' Red Maple 001-97

Ryan
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