Need help relocating a young maple tree

13 years ago

Hi folks. About 2-3 years ago, a maple seedling grew. It's now 6-7 tall. It's multitrunk and caliper is around 1.5". However, it grew on a wrong spot beside my Juniper tree. I noticed it grows very fast. I got it identified in our trees forum and they told me it's Maple Freemanii.

Last year, I built a patio and a pergola. I'm thinking of transplanting it near my patio. What are your thoughts about it? Go for it or is it a big NO? Please see drawing below to get an idea where I am planning to move it.

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Comments (6)

v1rt
Original Author
13 years ago
Ignore. I tried digging the maple today but it was so hard. I transplanted the juniper instead.
mjjones453
13 years ago
So where did you place the Juniper that you transplanted? I love seeing what you have done!
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lazy_gardens
13 years ago
Be VERY careful with that maple. Maple freemanii is a hybrid between red and silver maples, and doesn't breed true.

If it's more like the silver maple, it's going to be a mess.
v1rt
Original Author
13 years ago
What can I investigate now while it's still young?

The juniper was placed near the patio(just like the drawing above). It's a very slow grower so i wasn't worried. It's also short about 4ft tall only.
missingtheobvious
13 years ago
Ask the Tree forum. They'll know. (The maple forum is not as active; you'll get more responses on the Tree forum.)

If it's a Freeman, it's a seedling, so not identical to its hybrid parent, so there's no guarantee exactly what you'll get. But you definitely don't want it if it's more like the silver maple ancestor (aggressive ground level roots; constantly shedding small branches; not much in the way of fall color; I still have three around the house).

I'd worry about whether the multiple trunks would be more likely to split. Was it cut off at the ground, then developed the multiple trunks? I don't really know, though -- but do ask someone.

I know how tempting it is to keep a seedling that comes up in a likely place; I had a leaning black locust cut down last year on the edge of the creek. I was thinking about what to plant to replace it, but there's a 6' volunteer maple (Carolina red maple?) 10-15' to one side and an 18" white pine about 10-15' to the other side. So I'm encouraging them; we'll see....

Are there maples in the area that you admire? Does anyone have a good-sized, fall-red Japanese maple? You can always collect samaras this spring and grow one in the ideal location.
v1rt
Original Author
13 years ago
At the back, my neighbor has an Autumn Blaze Maple. In front, I have what I think is Red Maple. The tree that I posted above was from 2 or 3 years ago from a seedling. I found the seedling on the north side of my house. At that time, my north side had an empty property. This seedling if about 30 ft from my Red Maple tree(on street).

When I dug it before, it only had 1 trunk about 4-5mm in diameter and 10 inches tall. But now, it's tall about 7 ft. I actually posted this tree last year at our Tree forum and they cannot tell exactly what maple tree it is.