VAFisher
Masterpiece
I think your inclination is right. Don't worry about defoliation for a while.
Acer rubrum Progression
- Thread starter VAFisher
- Start date
Gary McCarthy
Chumono
I'll be curious to see how small the next set of leaves are after the full defoliation.
I have 24 acer rubrum that I've been growing out from cuttings for the past 5-6 years. Mostly concentrating on a flat, shallow, radial nebari and thickening the trunk. It will still be a few years before I start defoliating.
I have 24 acer rubrum that I've been growing out from cuttings for the past 5-6 years. Mostly concentrating on a flat, shallow, radial nebari and thickening the trunk. It will still be a few years before I start defoliating.
VAFisher
Masterpiece
Back on page 1, you can see how it responded last year. I defoliated it on May 31 and took follow up pics in mid and late June.
SaltySea
Seedling
You've got a wonderful tree on the go here. I'm struggling to see the difference in leaf compared to a trident maple. Do you know an easy way to tell? The reason I ask is that I have some seedlings and I'd like to know if they are tridents or Amur.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Gabler
Masterpiece
I know as well as anyone it's easy to get distracted by a tangent on a thread, but I should point out, for the sake of helping a new site member, that if you're looking for an answer to a specific question, it's generally best to start a new thread, rather than bury it in someone else' progression thread.
That said, to answer your question, trident leaves are smaller and smoother. If you look at them side by side with red maple leaves, they look nothing alike. It's only online, when there's not a good sense of scale, that they start to look a bit similar.
VAFisher
Masterpiece
Also, other than the actual size and shape of the leaf, the petioles on a red maple will be much longer and usually red in color.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
It's really not that hard once you know what to look for and the variations that both species have in leaf shape.
Acer rubrum generally have tri-lobed leaves WITH SERRATIONS at the leading edges. Trident leaves, for the most part don't. Also, bark and twigging gives additional ID. Trident maple bark is thin and exfoliates (falls off in strips). Acer rubrum is thicker barked and doesn't really exfoliate all that much. The final thing is that acer rubrum is native to North America. Tridents aren't. If you see a tri-lobed leafed tree in the woods, it is most likely acer rubrum.
Amur maple leaves tend to have an elongated lobe in the middle of their leaves. Their leaves also tend to be smaller than acer rubrum or trident in most circumstances. They are invasive in N. America, so they pop up everywhere.
All three throw a few shape variations in their leaves, but understanding context in where the specific tree is can help narrow down which it is.
Acer Rubrum first, trident second, amur third:
