Red Maple Planting . . . Now?

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sherriseden Bloomington, IN(Zone 6a) Nov 09, 2010

A friend of mine is having a silver maple removed and wants to plant a balled and burlapped red maple in its place - like now! The silver maple is not diseased so there's no chance of contamination of the new plant in that way, but I'm wondering if this is a good time to do this? Both removal and planting will be professionally done. I don't really know much about fall planting, so wondered if any of you have ideas about planting a b&b red maple at this time of year and what cultivars might be a good choice?? Thanks so much!

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HoosierGreen Danville, IN Nov 09, 2010

Fall is an excellent time to plant red maples, and most other trees and shrubs, too. I have planted five red maples just this week for clients. They are available usually balled & burlapped, but also container grown, and occasionally bare-root. (The attached photo is of a 2" caliper tree, container grown. A tree this size should cost under $200.)

Be sure to dig the hole wider than the size of the root ball. If the soil is very poor, you can mix in some peat moss, compost, or fine shredded hardwood bark... any organic material will help. Red maples tolerate poor drainage and a variety of soils. Mulch the tree with a few inches of your choice of materials after planting. It usually is not necessary, or recommended, to stake the tree unless there are very high winds expected, and then stake loosely.

There are quite a few cultivars of red maples available (M. Dirr lists 72 in his Manual). The most common are: 'Red Sunset' and 'October Glory', but each area of the country has those that grow best in the region. There are some cultivars that are crosses with silver maples, such as 'Armstrong' and 'Autumn Blaze'. Red maples are faster growing than sugar maples, slower than silver maples, but the latter is to be avoided anyway because of weak wood strength.

A great tree!

Thumbnail by HoosierGreen
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sherriseden Bloomington, IN(Zone 6a) Nov 09, 2010

Thanks, Hoosier!!

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