How to Raise a Maple Tree

Maple trees produce vivid autumn colors.

There's a maple tree for nearly any landscape situation, from container-grown Japanese maples to large lawn and shade trees, such as red or sugar maples. Raising a young maple tree into a healthy one takes regular care, beginning when the tree is planted. Maples attract a fair share of pests and diseases, and some -- like red maple -- have soft wood that is prone to breakage during storms.

Things You'll Need

• Mulch
• Pruning shears

Instructions

1. Plant your maple tree in an area where it receives either full or partial sun with well-drained soil. Make sure the tree can reach its mature size, which varies from 8 feet in height for Japanese maples, to 100 feet for sugar maples.

2. Water your young maple tree regularly for the first three years of its life. Water by hand or use a tree watering device designed to release water slowly. Vermont Community Forestry estimates giving young trees of any kind 10 gallons of water per week, unless the tree receives sufficient rainfall.

3. Mulch the ground around your maple tree with 2 to 3 inches of mulch to help the soil retain moisture and protect the thin maple bark. Don't allow the mulch to touch the tree trunk; just mulch in a large circle from the foot of the tree, extending the circle up to three times the width of the maple tree's root ball.

4. Prune developing maple trees in the late summer or early fall since spring-pruned maples will ooze sap. Remove any dead, bent or broken and diseased branches. Snip suckers from the maple tree trunk. Cut off limbs that compress other limbs or grow vertically. Prune the tree each year, always in the late summer or early fall.

5. Watch for maple pests, including borers, aphids and scales. Pests can chew holes in leaves, or cause them to crinkle or curl up. Scales may appear, resembling cottony fluff on the tree, or leave a sticky residue. Treat pest-afflicted trees with insecticidal soap.

6. Look out for diseases that may affect your tree. Leaves can fall or change color, or twigs can die back when maple trees get sick. Pay attention to your tree to notice these changes then get help diagnosing and treating the disease from your county extension agency.

References

• Clemson Cooperative Extension: "Maples"; Debbie Shaughnessy; November 2006
• North Dakota State University: Questions on Maple