Red mapleIt changes its color beautifully in autumn and looks great as a solitaire. It is not too demanding, although it is worth remembering about providing appropriate conditions for its cultivation. Find out what is worth knowing aboutgrowing red mapleand what diseases can threaten this tree. We will also suggest whichred maple varietiesis worth choosing for your garden and whethercutting red mapleis necessary.
Red maple - Acer rubrum
Red maple(Acer rubrum) is a tree with a conical or spherical crown, reaching 10 m in height and 7 m in width.The leaves are green on top, shiny, extremely decorative in the autumn turning red. The flowers appear in March and they are also tiny red. It works great in parks, green areas and as a tree for planting streets and pedestrian communication routes. It is worth knowing that this species of maple can be squeezed into maple syrup.
Red maple - varieties
Due to the large size of this tree, it is worth choosing for gardensred maple varietiescharacterized by less intensive growth, and also nicely discolored in the fall.
Red maple 'Brandywine'- is a variety with a nice wide conical crown, growing up to 8-10 m in height. Leaves typical for red maple, green top with a slight bluish tinge, bright underside. In autumn, they change their color to an intense purple-red color.
Red maple 'Scanlon'- a medium-sized, densely branched variety of red maple with an almost columnar crown.It grows up to 10-12 m high and 3-4 m wide. Its leaves are dark green, shiny, dull underneath, turning orange-red in September.
Red Maple 'Red Sunset'- deciduous tree with a pyramidal crown, growing up to 15 m in height. Green leaves shiny on top, turning red in autumn. One of the most beautiful varieties due to the long-lasting, intense discoloration of the leaves.
Red maple 'October Glory'- grows up to 20 m high, with a conical crown, up to a round diameter of 7-10 m. Leaves up to 10 cm long, shiny, dark green on top, blue-green on the underside. 'October Glory' is ared maple varietythat turns intensely scarlet to orange-red in autumn. The mostly dioecious flowers smell of honey and appear in March-April, long before the leaves unfold. They are dark red in color and gathered in dense inflorescences.
Red maple - cultivation
Red maple preferssunny to partially shaded position. Ideally, the site should be sheltered from winds. Red maple will grow well in moist, well-drained and slightly acidic soils, but is also slightly alkaline.
Remember!Red maple hates catchment and wetland soils. It is also sensitive to excess calcium.
Wgrowing red maplepine bark can be used as a mulch, which will slightly acidify the substrate and protect the tree from freezing in colder regions of Poland.
Red maple - cut
Cutting the red mapleis not recommended. It shows a natural, spontaneous balance when creating branches, creating a compact habit. Any possible cutting of the red maple should be limited to the removal of weak, diseased or crossing shoots.
Note!Cutting the red maple must not be made in the leafless period - in winter or in the early spring, because during this period there is a lot of leakage of juice from the cut wound. It is better to make such a cut in summer, during the growing season, when the juices do not circulate so intensively.
Red maple - diseases
Werticiliosis- symptoms of this dangerousred maple disease can be observed in summerin the form of drying leaves. Between the veins, the leaf tissue turns yellow, then turns brown, and consequently the leaves fall. Browning of the outer rings can be observed on the cross-section of the shoot. The infection occurs through wounds on the roots. The fight against verticillus is to avoid planting red maple in places where diseased plants have grown. If we observesymptoms of this disease on the maple , the shoots should be removed and the infected plants should be sprayed with Topsin M 500 SC.
Powdery mildew- is a red maple disease that appears on the top of the leaf blade in the form of a white, powdery coating.After a dozen or so days, the raid darkens and the spores are transferred to neighboring plants. The fungus hibernates on shoots or in fallen leaves, and spores are formed in spring. This dangerous disease of red maple is favored by frequent rainfall and large differences in air humidity during the day and at night. Wheninfecting the red maple with this diseaseit should be sprayed 3 times alternately with Discus 500 WG and Amistar 250 SC plant protection products.
Black spot of maple leaves- on red maple leaves there are chlorotic bright round spots about 1 cm in diameter. After some time, the stains turn yellow. On the upper side of the leaves, in the spot of the spots, numerous black spots appear, which from June onwards merge and cover almost the entire surface of the leaf, with a uniform shiny spot with a yellow border. In the fight against thisdangerous red maple disease , it is important to remove the fallen leaves in which the fungus hibernates and not to wet the leaves during watering.In spring, when the leaves are developing, spray the plants two or three times every seven days, alternating between the following fungicides: Bravo 500 SC, Topsin M 500 SC or Biosept Active, after finding disease symptoms.
Anthracnose- The symptoms of this red maple disease can be seen along the major nerves of the maple leaf tissue. At first, the tissues take a light green color, then they turn yellow, brown and, consequently, die. Fallen leaves must be removed and burned. Spray infected plants 2 or 3 times with such preparations as: Topsin M 500, Polyram 70 WG.
MSc Eng. Joanna Białowąs
