Acer rubrum Progression

[Bonsai Nut]

Really nice! I'm going to be messing around with A. rubrum a lot once I get into my new house. I will enjoy watching you continue to develop the ramification on this one - and might even have been tempted to defoliate it twice this season. This is within the context of the fact that I have a landscape A. rubrum of unknown cultivar that has leaves as big as my hand but it is the prettiest thing in my garden in the fall.

 

[VAFisher]

Really nice! I'm going to be messing around with A. rubrum a lot once I get into my new house. I will enjoy watching you continue to develop the ramification on this one - and might even have been tempted to defoliate it twice this season. This is within the context of the fact that I have a landscape A. rubrum of unknown cultivar that has leaves as big as my hand but it is the prettiest thing in my garden in the fall.

They are definitely nice landscape trees. Most of them around me turn more yellow than red in the fall though. I really enjoy when they turn that nice orange color. I might try to fertilize with some mir-acid next year to see if that makes any difference.

 

[Zelrod]

I know there are better maples for traditional bonsai but Acer Rubrum is one of the few Naples that grow in 9b 10a zones where I live. Thank you for taking the time to document your progress! It’s a very nice start indeed.

 

[Ininaatigoons]

Thank you for this post. Acer Rubrum are a wonderful native maple. I have found that cultivars rather than seedlings are more reliable in color. I am only in the stage of growing up a few. The bareroot ones I tried to grow out in the ground were all ate by rabbits. Must be winter candy. They were always yellow. Even though they had full sun. I have grown 'October Glory' in nursery pots for a couple years now. They are always red. I will get a couple more cultivars growing this year maybe.
I have heard the leaves, internodes, and petioles shrink in a bonsai pot. Also I have heard that there was a significant difference between Northern and Southern Acer Rubrum subspecies with Southern having smaller leaves?
You have a good thick trunk already on a great start! Keep it up so I can follow those footsteps.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I like this tree very much . Shows what a experienced practitioner can do . Something I feel that is lost . To a lot of practitioners . In warmer climates . Is the comparison to JM . There is no comparison . I live usda zone 4 Canada . Just to be clear . They can be grown as bonsai . I’m not saying they can’t . They are expensive . This is not the USA. I can shock you if you want . They are not for the novice . Winter is to cold and to long . The long part does not get enough respect . You need a greenhouse . Attempting and failing to grow JM . Up here is almost a rite of passage . A lot of people quit bonsai . Thinking they are not able . There are BNuts that know this to be true . @Leo in N E Illinois . Is good choice to ask . Personally I don’t get the leaf reduction argument . If it was so important . Than why grow anything except the smallest leaf . Trees on the planet . Ok rant over . Nice tree VA . Pot matches it nicely

 

[Ininaatigoons]

I just did some reading on the fall color and watched the MrMaple segment on senescence. Apparently has to do with the amount of Anthocyanins in the leaf. This is affected by cold nights and sunny days. I still think it has a lot to do with a cultivars ability to make or keep more of the red power.

 

[19Mateo83]

I just did some reading on the fall color and watched the MrMaple segment on senescence. Apparently has to do with the amount of Anthocyanins in the leaf. This is affected by cold nights and sunny days. I still think it has a lot to do with a cultivars ability to make or keep more of the red power.

Some rubrum trees just have the “I want to be fire engine red” genes. But, I think that’s part of the fun of the red maple, the variety. I live in North Carolina and we also get the acer rubrum var. trilobum, the Carolina red maple or scarlet maple. It has a three lobed leaf reminiscent of acer buergerianum, the trident maple.

 

[Ininaatigoons]

Some rubrum trees just have the “I want to be fire engine red” genes. But, I think that’s part of the fun of the red maple, the variety. I live in North Carolina and we also get the acer rubrum var. trilobum, the Carolina red maple or scarlet maple. It has a three lobed leaf reminiscent of acer buergerianum, the trident maple.

Just looked it up. Definitely different!

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The discussion of colour . I’ve always found interesting . Yes outside variables like weather . Okay a effect . But my observations especially of rubrum .Seems specific to each individual tree . As in some trees are yellow and May get a little red . Others are red and may get real heavy red . In a natural grove . One would think the genetics are equal . But some are yellow and some are red . If you observe individual trees . There always the same . Example my yard mature tree . Is always brilliant red . But always very short lived colour compared to other trees . Each individual tree seems to March to its own drummer .

 

[Zelrod]

It's a little off topic but this google maps image is on the west side of the Everglades in south Florida along one of the primary roadways. We don't get many fire engine red varieties with the lack of super cool weather but we have a lot of deep purple egg plant colors.

I took some cuttings from a nice Acer Rubrum that has leaves shaped like a sugar maple that had nice purple leaves. There are so many variations which makes Acer Rubrum very interesting to me. There are thousands of red maples along this stretch of road.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

It's a little off topic but this google maps image is on the west side of the Everglades in south Florida along one of the primary roadways. We don't get many fire engine red varieties with the lack of super cool weather but we have a lot of deep purple egg plant colors.

I took some cuttings from a nice Acer Rubrum that has leaves shaped like a sugar maple that had nice purple leaves. There are so many variations which makes Acer Rubrum very interesting to me. There are thousands of red maples along this stretch of road.

View attachment 472003

Amazing how wide the distribution is . Zone 4 Ontario to Florida . There is info that cold and heat tolerance is very seed dependent. So mine would melt there . and yours would freeze to death here

 

[Ininaatigoons]

I think zone 3 for sure!

 

[VAFisher]

My favorite fall color for maples is orange. I was walking through the town of Abingdon, VA a few years ago and the main street was lined with orange colored maples. It was very pretty. This isn't my pic but those maples were this color.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The true beauty fall colour in the northern woods . Is multiple trees yellow red orange . Would be nice to have multiple . Rubrum with different fall colours in a pot

 

[Shogun610]

How is this tree doing ?

 

[VAFisher]

How is this tree doing ?

Not much change. It was repotted this spring and is doing well. I will probably defoliate it soon. Will take some pics then.

 

[VAFisher]

Decided to take a shot before defoliation. While the leaves are big, they are smaller than usual for the first flush and the petioles are shorter than normal as well. I guess it has to do with the weird spring weather we had here in central VA.

 

[Shogun610]

Decided to take a shot before defoliation. While the leaves are big, they are smaller than usual for the first flush and the petioles are shorter than normal as well. I guess it has to do with the weird spring weather we had here in central VA.

View attachment 495192

Amazing I love this tree

 

[VAFisher]

Looking at this tree leafless shows some decisions I made with the branches that I wish I could do over. But I'll keep trying to make it better.

 

[ERClover]

Magnificent tree. At what age does it become appropriate to begin defoliating in the growing season? I am in central VA as well. I have a Silver Maple that willed its way into the world in a Home Depot pot in my backyard last spring that is growing beautifully in its second year now in a growing pot. My inclination was to let it grow relatively unchecked for awhile to thicken the trunk but I am thinking ahead.