Type of Maple?

digger714

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Hello. I dug this out of my yard last year. I was just looking to learn on something not so great, but as it started showing itself in the ground, i thought it looked pretty cool. Anyway, im pretty sure its a maple, but not sure as to the exact type. Any help would be appreciated. Do these do well with leaf pruning to reduce the size of the leaves?
 

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the3rdon

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It looks like a sugar maple to me.. Acer Saccharum.. From what I have been told they do not reduce at ALL..
 

digger714

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That was my first thought, but the tips of the leaves seem longer than any photo of a sugar maple.
 

the3rdon

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It might be a Sycamore Maple on second look.. Acer Pseudoplatanus..
 

jk_lewis

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I think it is the red maple, Acer rubrum. You don't live in prime sugar maple territory. The leaf shape, smooth gray bark, and the reddish petioles seem to indicate A. rubrum.

They make OK bonsai. Leaves will reduce, but it is better to start with smaller-leafed varieties
 

the3rdon

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Nope, not sycamore.. You might have it in the chalk maple which is closely related to the sugar maple..
 

digger714

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Yeah, ive got several tridents, hornbeams, azaleas, and others. I was just starting hunting yamadori, and this one i could dig out with help of waterhose to really see what was going on under there. I spent 4 days cleaning away all the dirt, but leaving all the roots. Kind of a project. Its doing great, and will make a pretty cool tree i think. Ive started clipping branches after growing past two nodes for ramification. When is the best time to defoliate, or start leaf pruning?
 

rockm

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Looks like a silver maple to me, especially if it was dug out of your yard. Silver maple is a pretty common landscape tree in the Mid-Atlantic.

They make pretty mediocre bonsai--yours might have root issues that will take some time to work out. The primary roots on your tree appear to point straight down-you will have to work to make them produce laterals expanding out from the trunk, instead of plunging into the ground.
 

Alexpompano

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I think it is the red maple, Acer rubrum. You don't live in prime sugar maple territory. The leaf shape, smooth gray bark, and the reddish petioles seem to indicate A. rubrum.

They make OK bonsai. Leaves will reduce, but it is better to start with smaller-leafed varieties
I got mine to reduce alot and it's still in development although it is a subspecies 20210820_180141.jpg
 

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Forsoothe!

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Then this ought to be a pretty nice tree by now, no?
 

Forsoothe!

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Acer rubrum (red maple)
But we have soooo many people insisting that Red Maple from their backyards have nice leaves and want to try them even though we also have soooo many others telling them that the petioles don't reduce enough to make it work, I figured here's an example to show that 10 years won't do it either. The absence of a response, anywhere, is meaningful. Or not.

In fact I have a couple and I will know, for sure one way or the other because reducing leaf size is my forte.
 
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