Help with Bloodgood Japanese Maple

[aarolar]

Help me out with caring for a Japanese Maple I just purchased, my great grandfather had one of these and I am planting it in his memory so I don't want it to die. I'm going to include some photos of what I am working with please give me some feed back on how deep to plant it and how to stake or support it. I know basic tree planting techniques such as a hole twice as big as the root ball ect. but have been told Japanese Maples are peculiar.





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[Raintree]

Pull it out of the pot & see if she's root bound.

 

[aarolar]

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[Raintree]

Good, was thinking it was going to be a lot worse. Dig your hole only as deep as the height of the root ball. Remember Jap Maples like full sun. Dig the hole twice as wide as the diameter of the root ball. I would loosen & extend the exposed roots as I back fill the hole. Water in as you back fill to eliminate air pockets. Stay away from any soil amendments, mulch the tree. If she feels sloppy, unable to stand on her own or in a high wind area gently stake allowing the tree to move freely.

 

[aarolar]

Good, was thinking it was going to be a lot worse. Dig your hole only as deep as the height of the root ball. Remember Jap Maples like full sun. Dig the hole twice as wide as the diameter of the root ball. I would loosen & extend the exposed roots as I back fill the hole. Water in as you back fill to eliminate air pockets. Stay away from any soil amendments, mulch the tree. If she feels sloppy, unable to stand on her own or in a high wind area gently stake allowing the tree to move freely.

You say full sun the tag says partial, I have heard both depending on what nursery owner I am talking to. This is part of the reason I am asking on here which one is it? When you say stay away from soil ammendments what about standard compost?

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[Raintree]

If you want your tree to be a specimen give it room & sun. I keep away from all soil amendments on new installs. This includes compost, back fill with the soil extracted from the hole & install appropriate mulch ring.

 

[aarolar]

If you want your tree to be a specimen give it room & sun. I keep away from all soil amendments on new installs. This includes compost, back fill with the soil extracted from the hole & install appropriate mulch ring.

Sweet I'll share pics of how it turns out tomorrow.

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[Raintree]

Good luck, Maples like well drained sweet soil, hopefully your not in clay. A soil sample from the bottom of the planting hole is a good idea.
Found a link for your info... http://www.ugaurbanag.com/content/better-way-plant-shrubs-and-trees

 

[aarolar]

No no clay anywhere on my hill pure sandy loam.

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[aarolar]

Here goes

From this...


To this...


Before lunch

Pics of the hole as requested



Temporary mulch untill I can get some more natural cedar.


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[Raintree]

Looks real good, glad to see you didn't have to stake it. It should do well in that location, a shredded bark mulch will decompose & be beneficial faster than a Cedar mulch.

 

[imagineero]

Looks like you planted it too deep to me, at the risk of water pooling and ending up with root rot. The above diagram is good.

Everyone has their own approach, for myself I tend to amend soil lightly. Depends on the soil though. I break up the soil and turn it for a radius of about 5 times the pot diameter, and will usually mix in about 20lbs of planting compost to that entire area. I also will try to break up/unfold the roots of the tree a little, it is harmful in the short term but beneficial in the long term. As a general rule, you want the tree planted with its soil level at or above the existing soil level, not below. Roots partially exposed at the surface is just fine, they'll find their own depth. I then mulch and water on the first day with an organic fertiliser like seasol to stimulate root growth. Watering is the most critical issue with new plantings and I try to encourage light watering daily for the first 2 weeks, scaled back to 3 times weekly for the following two weeks, then a treatment with seasol again at a month and once a week watering for another couple weeks before going on to whatever the rest of your plants need.

 

[treeseer]

Did you straighten all the roots? Best to shake off most of the nursery medium and mix with the native soil. Flare to grade is Rule #1; it looked the the roots were not buried deep in the pot which is good.

"I also will try to break up/unfold the roots of the tree a little, it is harmful in the short term but beneficial in the long term." yup, not a little but a lot.