Five Year Native Tree Challenge: Gabler's Freeman's Maple

[Gabler]

See those little whips next to the larger sycamore sapling? Those are Acer x freemanii, a naturally-occurring hybrid between red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (Acer saccharinum), not to be confused with the similarly-spelled sugar maple (Acer saccharum). They grow absurdly fast, and many are sterile, producing no seeds. In five years, the one I leave in the ground could reach fifteen feet in height and spread, with a good six-inch diameter breast height. I should be able to chop and develop those whips into good trees in no time at all, so this spring, I'll extract one and put it in a grow pot on the ground, where the roots can grow quickly and unrestricted, but then I can scoop it back up with a bucket-front tractor when I'm finished thickening the trunk. It'll be neat to see what I can produce in essentially six years from seed (five for this contest plus last year). I'm also curious to see whether refinement will be too difficult in the long run.

 

[HorseloverFat]

See those little whips next to the larger sycamore sapling? Those are Acer x freemanii, a naturally-occurring hybrid between red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (Acer saccharinum), not to be confused with the similarly-spelled sugar maple (Acer saccharum). They grow absurdly fast, and many are sterile, producing no seeds. In five years, the one I leave in the ground could reach fifteen feet in height and spread, with a good six-inch diameter breast height. I should be able to chop and develop those whips into good trees in no time at all, so this spring, I'll extract one and put it in a grow pot on the ground, where the roots can grow quickly and unrestricted, but then I can scoop it back up with a bucket-front tractor when I'm finished thickening the trunk. It'll be neat to see what I can produce in essentially six years from seed (five for this contest plus last year). I'm also curious to see whether refinement will be too difficult in the long run.

View attachment 346623

Nice!! Can’t wait...

Also.. naturally ocurring Rubrums and Sacharrinums (most “wild” Acers, actually) around here are notorious for holding “subterran” surprises! So you MIGHT get luckier than you think.

 

[Gabler]

Today, I collected a bunch of seedlings. Three I smushed together to make a triple-trunk maple. Hopefully, the trunks fuse correctly. Two I chopped back pretty hard and made some rough stick-in-a-pot shohin trees. One I chopped extremely hard to make a mame that's truly under ten centimeters. I'll see if they live. If not, I have several dozen more seedlings to play around with.

 

[Gabler]

Unfortunately, a little blurry.

 

[Gabler]

 

[Gabler]

 

[Gabler]

They're leafing out.

 

[Gabler]

This big guy is a bit slower too leaf out than the others, so I stuck him in the greenhouse thing I got for the beech with one root.

 

[Gabler]

With leaves, it almost looks like a tree. Note that although this individual tree looks more like a regular red maple, the seed fell from a tree that looks like a regular silver maple. I’m not even convinced that they’re separate species at this point.

 

[Gabler]

 

[Gabler]

The wire bit into the bark faster than expected.

 

[HorseloverFat]

That’ll grow right out in a few years.



Lookin’ good.

 

[Gabler]

The maple I’ve been favoring seems overall healthy, with supple, springy twigs and fat buds, but one section of trunk is dead. I gess it wasn’t getting enough sap flow?

 

[Gabler]

I’m considering hollowing it out and letting those branches above it grow totally unrestricted until it heals over, but it’ll probably leave an ugly scar in otherwise smooth bark. Maybe I could chop it again below that point?

 

[Gabler]

After pondering the situation for a while, I decided on this chop—

 

[Gabler]

 

[Gabler]

 

[Gabler]

 

[Gabler]

 

[Cmd5235]

Interesting. I think I would have removed some of the lower branches at this point, but I guess it depends on what the final plan is. I do like the chop you just made.