On Mon, 17 Mar 2003 13:12:28 GMT, Pam wrote:



HI HI- wrote:

X-No-Archive: yes
hello all i just bought some small japanese maple trees. im new to this entire scene. im have a concern. in one of the tree i dug the hole then added compound, i then put some 1010 fertilizer on top of that. i put the tree/root bulb on top of that f
illed the side with top soil and the top with top soil. sprinkled the fertilizer on top of the soil around the bark area. was i not supposed to put the 1010 on top of the compound? will this kill the tree? do i have to dig it up and do this again?
my last question is how fast do these trees grow? any special care i need to take with these trees?

Generally, it is not recommended to fertilize newly planted trees and shrubs with anything other than a transplant fertilizer. They need time to establish a good healthy root system before attempting to put on significant top growth - transplant ferts wil
l do that while regular ferts tend to promote foliar growth. You do not need to dig it up - just make sure the tree is well watered.

Japanese maples have sensative root systems and do not like them messed about with - do not attempt to loosen the soil around the roots. Just plant it as it comes out of the pot or burlap or whatever. Make sure drainage is very good and plant high, so tha
t the surface of the root ball is slightly higher than the soil level. Frequent watering is necessary to get a tree established and I would not consider these trees to be even slightly drought tolerant, so adequate irrigation will be necessary to
maintain its health.

Most Japanese maples grow very slowly, but I am frequently surprised at the speed of growth some young trees exhibit. You may notice some significant growth for the first year or two, but then it will slow down and increase in size very slowly. J. maples
can take a long time - 25+ years - to mature.

pam - gardengal


My Japanese laceleaf maple is about 7 years old. It is about 2.5 feet
tall with a knarly trunk and almost looks like a bonzai. It has not
leafed out yet, but the leaf color is a dark red and looks good
against the azalea plants. I feed it a shovelful of cow manure
every year.