Where should I plant my Bloodgood?

I just bought a new BG. It's only in a 5 gal bucket, just wondering if it needs some shade. I've heard a few different things. I have a lot of sun on my lot, not very many trees, I do have some partial shade areas. I planted a baby weeping willow in the far corner of my lot last year. Any info. would be helpful.
Nikki

Almost all JM's prefer morning sun and afternoon shade...Bloods will do fine in the sun, if it is a true blood, and if it doesn't get enough sun it will not be very red probably greenish red to bronzish green ;>) ( needs about min. 5-6 hours). All maples will have some leaf burn in full all day sun but mainly when young from my experience older trees I have do NOT burn and finer leafed cultivars are more likely to burn than thicker leafed ones like Bloods and of course varigated ones WILL burn!!!. I have two clumps of grafted Bloods in sun until 4 or 5 in the afternoon and they do fine but you are bit farther south than I. SO to be safe if it can get a little shade during the hottest time of the day or a little dappled afternoon shade I think it would do best and still keep it's dark red color...Hope that helps...David

Thanks David!! That's great to know. It's only my second Jap maple. The other one is an upright green with a red bark, then it has a graft of a finer leaf red weeping at the bottom with green bark. It's interesting, I hope the grafted part does well. They're looking good, but I've only had them for a few months.

Nikki....HUMMMM you might want to post a few pics of the twofer tree it doesn't sound right to me..sounds like someone forgot to cut the root stock off a grafted dissectum... although I can't believe that happened...show #1 whole tree #2 the grafted dissectum and just below and above it from a couple of angles and#3 one from that graft to ground #4 graft to top of green jm and maybe we can figure out What the heck you actually have but something doesn't sound right ...David

It could be they thought the graft hadn't taken and decided to just sell the generic green JM tree which is most often used as rootstock ...and now it has taken and you will most likely have to remove the top and keep the dissectum or vise a versa ... I don't think it will do well with both but someone here might know ...not something I've seen before...My guess is the dissectum will not live long unless the top is cut ...kind of depends on which one you like better...and it may be too late to remove the top ..I am just not sure but photos will help... david

Ok, I'll post some pics tomorrow, I need to go to bed. My neighbor down the street has almost the same thing, or it looks that way from a distance. I'll shoot over and check hers out too.
Thanks for the posts, I will have to talk to the nursery about it, if they gave me one that will not be successful..........Nikki

Here are the pics, it's really windy.

Another..........

This one isn't focused correctly, I can get another if I need to.

BEYOND BIZZARE it looks like it was side grafted with the dissectum ... and also top grafted some odd ball green variety on top maybe they thought the side graft did not take and the tree top was damagesd so thy cut it off and preceeded to graft some other non- dissectum to the top which did take or maybe they thought by grafting two trees to one they would get more bucks ... The top tree looks like your basic green generic Jm except the wood is red NOT green so it may be a named cultivar who knows ...and you will never know for sure... The side graft looks odd IMHO but thats personal taste ..I will email someone who might know if this is hurtful in any way but I would expect since the main tree is so large and healthy it isn't JUST BIZZARE!!! David

Hi David,
"IMHO" I don't know what that means, not too up on computer shorts. I didn't pay too much for it, I think 40$, I didn't think it was something rare, I just thought it looked cool. My neighbor has one similar, I need to go check it out.
Talk to ya........Nikki

IMHO "In MY Humble Opinion"

Ok, here's my neighbor's. It does look a little odd, but I like certain odd looking plants. I would prune it a little differently at the bottom, I guess I'm a little odd if I think about it.

Here's the same kind of graft, Her's does have green bark though.

Top

Bottom side graft

It will take yours a long time to get that look ...I've got an email in to the expert but it does look like its a certain style and OK ...not my cup of JM but as I said to each there own ...David

For the weeping ones, I really like to see more of the branches. People always let them weep sooo long where the foliage is all you can see. Thanks for the interest, Nikki

yes they could have trained it better but maybe they like the hula skirt look ;>) I have a couple of other visuals but don't want to impart my prejudices on anyone here ...as I said to each their own!!! David

It looks to me that the sucker shoot was left on the plant instead of removed.

Dave

On mine, hers, or both? If mine, will it take over like roses?

Wow, very strange! "hula skirt" is an apt name...

Laura

Nikki - if the green part of the tree is not a cultivar this could turn out to be a very big tree. Seedling Maples can get pretty big. What an interesting combination!

On Nikki's plant, it looks like someone grafted the plant twice, 1 side graft (with the red lace leaf and above the side graft looks like a wedge or cleft graft with what appears to be some kind of coral bark. The strongest will always survive and outgrow the week one. I guess you can play a wait and see with it.

The other picture appears to be that of a wild branch that should have been removed a long time ago. If this were my plant I would take a small pocket saw and remove it now so the rest of the plant can grown in true splendor.

Dave

Thanks for everyone's input, I'm not sure what to do just yet. Do you think the laceleaf will inhibit the growth of the green one?
What do you think the green one is? I really do like it better, but I wanted to play with the other and see how it branches out.

If anything the broadleaf will overtake the laceleaf and the strongest will survive and the weak will die.

Dave

Dave may be right ...whatever you choose my "expert" said it was basically harmless...if you like the look.... ( obviously I don't ;>0 ).... keep it and see what happens... if not take the dissectum off your choice ...of course as i said it's a matter of personal taste...David

It may be of some interest ..that I feel the your tree was most likely grafted long after the upright was already big whereas the neighbors was most likely done at normal rootstock age at about 2 years. David

Most of the multi-grafted plants come from the west coast. It seems that they are trying to produce a conversational piece. I have seen more pines and spruces than maples, but I guess they are venturing into the maples now.

I really like the coral bark at the top!

It's funny. I went to my JM nursery this week and they had a green leafed tree behind a red weeping one and said that people really liked the look. Of course it wasn't one plant.

Such an interesting concept. I do like coral barks though.

Those are some wild looking trees! I have often wondered about doing grafts of two different types of JM's to one green rootstock and what it would look like. Well, Nikki, now I know, and thank you for sharing, but I haven't decided if I like it yet.

I am a fan of the coral bark AND of the red dissectums, but I don't think on the same tree. I had hoped that if grafting were done this way that at least two trees that complemented one another in color or leaf form would be grafted on the same root stock.

Very educational thread for me--thanks!

Well I planted my bloodgood in my back side yard about 10-12' from a couple of Lelands.......my neighbors. Hopefully it will help mask my big playground and get some shade. Does anyone know how quickly the bloodgoods grow?

Supposedlt pretty quick. You could not tell from mine, however, LOL! I've got pics I'm editing, will post over the weekend.

Laura

Well, I decided to cut off my weeping grafted portion at the bottom. I really like the coral barked green graft. Hopefully this portion will continue to grow and stay coral barked! I guess the lower portion will always be brown as it is root stock? Thanks for all your interest.
Laura, can't wait to see pics, let me know how old and what if anything you've done to it ie....feeding etc.

all of my Bloods grew moderatly fast in my zone ..I have some clumps that i got at Kmart abiout 8-10 years ago really cheap ...they were the first grafted trees I had ever seen and I of course thought they were inferior ;>) well they were new and what the heck did I know!!!!...they didn't do much for several years ...now they are about 10-12 feet tall...of course if you live in a milder climate you may get faster growth or fertilize which I DON'T but then my soil is some of the richest in the world ...but more for corn and beans NOT jm's who like little nitro ;>)...and my drainage is NOT good in general since my land is as flat as a board!!! ...There are just SO many factors it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell what yours will do but IN GENERAL bloods are NOT slow growing ...hows that for a convoluted "couched"answer ;>) David

Oh the clumps were a spindly 3 ft at most when purchased ...sorry I forgot that to give you persopctive on 8-10 years growth!!! David

That's good! Thanks

This is my Bloodgood in February of this year. It was about a 5 foot tree when it went in but now the fence behind it is 8. It broadens at the same time it grows tall though. And if it's anything like my other maples the growth rate will increase over time. I'll post the tree taken at an earlier date.

This message was edited May 26, 2006 8:44 PM

Here it was in 11/2004. So that's about 17 month's growth. Edited to say that they can get 30 feet and taller here.

This message was edited May 26, 2006 8:50 PM

I'm going to add a new thread with pics of all my maples except the ones I already have one going for...such as coral bark. I'll post any updates there over time so we can watch them in one thread.

Laura