Tree Care
 

I know this is a random question, but I need someone who is a tree expert to help me out.
I was going to plant a red maple a couple of years ago, but then realized that one was already growing in my yard in the exact spot that I wanted it (how do you like that?).
It's a couple years old now and probably 7-8 feet in total height.
I have no clue what I should be doing (if anything) in terms of pruning or cutting certain growth at certain times of the year in order to promote healthy growth of this tree.

We seem to have a lot of knowledgeable folks on the board so I'm hoping someone can help me out.

Thanks

i'm merely an amateur gardener but being an indigenous species your maple won't need any help. sounds like it's doing well. enjoy the fall colours!

any clue how many years I'll need to wait until it's a decent size?? Yea, the colours are amazing...that's why I left it in the ground. Last fall it was beautiful.
I think I found the tree up the street where the seed would have blown from and it's a beauty, so I'm hoping this one will turn out the same.

Thanks for that tip...I never thought of that. These things re-seed themselves over and over in our climate with no assistance. Perhaps pruning and such is to be done once they are bigger?

as an aside: Dude, I know you're not here this year, but we've had about a perfect summer for health and growth of trees. Lots of sun, lots of rain and nice temps.
The fall colours are going to be spectacular this year!! It'll make up for that sad display last year after our drought of a summer. I can't wait!

well, you'll be worm food before it reaches maturity. on the other hand, your grandchildren will have a great time climbing it and enjoying its shade.:haha:

one of the hardest things about being away is not having been able to tend to my garden. my renter has sent me a few photos and it's not a pretty sight.

anyway, like i said, enjoy the colours.

Be lucky it isn't a manitoba maple. I curse those like you wouldn't believe and those damn things grow EVERYWHERE. Good luck getting rid of those.

move downtown where we don't believe in trees

I'm actually looking to see this tree grow and be large/healthy.
I hope I made that clear enough in my initial post.

Are you sure it's a native red and not a Crimson King which is a variety of Norway Maple? Norways are invasive non-natives that are propogating in our ravines crowding out our native maples as well as native undergrowth plants. If it's a native, congratulations! No need to prune. If you want to speed up the growth, be sure to water it by leaving a hose trickling on it for an hour or so once a week from spring till frost, at least under normal conditions. This has been a particularly wet summer so not much need to water. If it's a Norway, you might as well leave it if it's already 7-8ft. Just make sure it doesn't propogate.

Well, you definitely won't need to water it this weekend ;)


@the dude, speaking of gardens, you really did miss out this year. A great year for gardening, my garden is still producing more food than I can deal with, though I got rid of a lot of it while I was home visiting family this weekend.

yup...this was a stellar summer.
Tons of sweet T-storms too.
Tropical Depression Ike is pounding us right now.

if i could get paid to garden i'd do it in a second. last year i grew tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers [cayenne and sweet], beans and strawberries. next year i'm going to expand a little and try some root vegetables.

initially, i had wanted a completely indigenous garden but i do have some naturalised species as well. my wife really wanted a japanese maple [because it was pretty] so we planted one in the front. i'm particularly proud of my ontario cactus [the prickly pear].

Sounds like a great garden! I've got tons of shade in my backyard with all these mature trees, so I only have a small area to plant my garden, but the cucumbers are great!

most of mine are in pots, but everything went great this year.
I kept it small - tomatoes - 2 kinds, peppers - 2 kinds, mint, parsley, basil.
Next year I'm going to rent a plot in the new community garden at Victoria Park and go wild.

I'm jealous of your prickly pear. I'd love to have one but I don't have any spot that's sunny or dry enough. My garden is virtually all native except for a small bed by the patio where I grow some herbs and a tomato plant the size of a Buick. We installed a green roof this year that makes me smile. If I weren't such a luddite, I'd post some picks.

highwater - by a 'green roof' what exactly do you mean? grass, or plants/flowers etc....

Mostly plants and flowers. For grass you need at least 8" of soil and our roof was not designed to take that kind of weight. I'll see if I can post some pics, although it will look much better next year when it's filled in a bit.

Something like this?

http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/ancaya/ancaya1.gif

Not a good place to grow canibus...LOL

Just like that. Except our is a flat roof and it's the first season so it's not as filled in. Which reminds me. I better get up there and cut back the penstemon. See ya.