Baby maple

CoreSeverin

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Hey all!
This is a little sapling I dug up in early spring, and the poor little guy has not grown really at all all summer! I put it in a training pot, kept it fairly well fed and watered, the pot is pretty big for it, but it just seems to be stuck where it was at when I first dug it. I think it maybe got a bit taller but thats all. Why did this happen and what should I do in the future to work around it? how can I encourage it to produce some branches? or that only something that comes with the age of the tree?
Thanks all,
-Core
 

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0soyoung

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Congratulations! Good job! and etc. 🎈🎆✨

The pot is a bit large for the size of the tree, so I think it has been growing roots to populate the pot. I think it will grow much more vigorously next year if you just leave it be (aside from a dash of fert and keeping it properly watered). Because maples are somewhat easy to desiccate (i.e., 'burn' the leaves), full sun in morning and dappled shade in the afternoon heat of the day will be most productive.

If you want branches, you decapitate the stem. That is you prune away the tip. There are buds at the bases of the leaves. These tend to be released to make new shoots when you decapitate the stem. I say 'tend' because it may be a bit late in the year to get the response. Certainly you will if you do it next spring. At that time you can even do it before it has leafed out. I suggest that you cut no further back than just above a visible pair of buds on the stem. Generally one can cut back even farther, but every now and then it causes more of the stem to die and even the whole sapling.

Then you let those new stems grow if you want the stem to be thicker. If you want more branches, instead, you wait until sometime around May when the new growth is all hardened and extension seems to have stopped. Then cut back to a a pair of leaves, wait and those two buds closest to the cut will produce two new shoots.

Enjoy!


btw, when I said 'leave it be' you can prune back to a pair of visible buds or a pair of leaves --> no messing with the roots.
 

CoreSeverin

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Congratulations! Good job! and etc. 🎈🎆✨

The pot is a bit large for the size of the tree, so I think it has been growing roots to populate the pot. I think it will grow much more vigorously next year if you just leave it be (aside from a dash of fert and keeping it properly watered). Because maples are somewhat easy to desiccate (i.e., 'burn' the leaves), full sun in morning and dappled shade in the afternoon heat of the day will be most productive.

If you want branches, you decapitate the stem. That is you prune away the tip. There are buds at the bases of the leaves. These tend to be released to make new shoots when you decapitate the stem. I say 'tend' because it may be a bit late in the year to get the response. Certainly you will if you do it next spring. At that time you can even do it before it has leafed out. I suggest that you cut no further back than just above a visible pair of buds on the stem. Generally one can cut back even farther, but every now and then it causes more of the stem to die and even the whole sapling.

Then you let those new stems grow if you want the stem to be thicker. If you want more branches, instead, you wait until sometime around May when the new growth is all hardened and extension seems to have stopped. Then cut back to a a pair of leaves, wait and those two buds closest to the cut will produce two new shoots.

Enjoy!


btw, when I said 'leave it be' you can prune back to a pair of visible buds or a pair of leaves --> no messing with the roots.
That all sounds great. To be fair I cut the top off of it last month, and the pot that it's in now is bigger than the one I had it in during spring and summer. I slip potted it last week. Probably too late in the season to do all that but I'm in Kansas and our winters come a bit late. Thanks for the advice, hopefully my maple keeps on the right track.
-Core
 

Potawatomi13

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It will likely be OK. Suggest you put pot in ground up to rim this Winter until past freezing in Spring/late Winter;).
 

Mapleminx

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It’ll grow. It’s spent it’s summer establishing itself to the new pot getting its roots settled. So any growth has been below ground where you can’t see it. Next spring you should start to see some visible growth 🙂
 

CoreSeverin

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It will likely be OK. Suggest you put pot in ground up to rim this Winter until past freezing in Spring/late Winter;).
I wish i could. Not my house though, I'm renting so I'm not sure it's a good idea. I was thinking of getting a Deep box and burying it in that though.
 
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