How to Grow Maple Trees? A Detailed Guide to the Planting Method

Every late autumn, the red maple trees become a beautiful scenery. With their graceful form and elegant leaves, they can serve as shade trees, street trees, or companion trees in landscape gardens. So, how do you grow maple trees?

1. Woodland Selection

For afforestation land, it is best to choose sunny or semi-sunny gentle slopes with deep, fertile, well-drained soil, whether on barren forest land or sloping farmland.

2. Land Preparation

Land preparation directly affects the light, temperature, water, nutrient, and air conditions the planted seedlings need, and is key to improving seedling survival rates and growth. Trident maple (Acer buergerianum) is highly adaptable and can be planted as pure stands in strips or blocks, or mixed with multiple species such as Chinese arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis), lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana), Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis), and North China larch (Larix principis-rupprechtii). Therefore, from the perspectives of soil and water conservation and full use of space, strip or pit preparation is used. Generally, gentle slopes use strip preparation with a width of about 1 m; woodland with thinner soil and steeper slopes uses pit preparation, with planting pits 1500px in diameter and 1250px deep. For spring planting, prepare the land in March; for autumn planting, July to August is preferable.

3. Planting

Planting can be done in early spring or late autumn to early winter, with spring being preferable. For pit planting, first cut off broken roots, damaged roots, and overly long roots to promote healing and the growth of lateral roots. When planting, follow the requirement of “three burials, two tramplings, and one lifting of the seedling”: first backfill topsoil to bury the roots; when the soil is about 2/3 filled, gently lift the seedling upward so the roots spread out, then bury soil in layers and tramp it firm so the seedling reaches the depth required for planting. The planting depth is 2 to 75px above the root collar. Where conditions allow, water after planting to settle the roots so they make close contact with the soil.

4. Field Management

1. Weeding

To promote seedling growth, loosen the soil and weed twice a year during the young forest stage. The first time is in late April; the second time is in early August, and along with weeding, loosen the soil 3 to 125px deep and expand the tree pit outward from the planting pit to promote root growth.

2. Fertilization

During the young stage, generally apply fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer 2 to 3 times from early May to early August each year, supplemented with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer; in late September, apply a winter fertilizer mainly of organic fertilizer combined with deep plowing to improve the soil. For adult fruiting trees, apply base fertilizer each year during the dormant period, carry out soil topdressing during the growing period, and sometimes also foliar topdressing. For base fertilizer, applying it before the leaves turn red or yellow each autumn gives better results; use mainly farmyard manure and cake fertilizer, and compound fertilizer may also be added, applied in autumn and winter combined with deep plowing. Soil topdressing is applied 3 to 4 times a year, mainly with nitrogen and potassium fertilizer; foliar topdressing is carried out multiple times during the growing period.

3. Training and Pruning

This can be done in winter or summer. Winter pruning is the pruning carried out from leaf fall in late autumn to before bud break the following spring, with early spring being preferable; the methods include heading back, thinning branches, renewal pruning, and cutting back to the ground. Summer pruning is the pruning carried out from after bud break to before leaf fall in autumn; the methods include bud rubbing and sprout removal, pinching, branch bending, and branch pulling.

5. Pest and Disease Control

Common diseases include brown spot disease and powdery mildew. When disease occurs, spray with 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 800 to 1000 times dilution, once every 10 to 15 days, for 2 to 3 consecutive sprays.

The main insect pests are the yellow rose moth (Cnidocampa flavescens) and the glossy-spotted longhorn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis). For the yellow rose moth, control generally involves digging up pupae and destroying them in a concentrated way from late autumn to early spring combined with plowing the land, or spraying 50% fenitrothion emulsion at 1000 times dilution in the early larval stage. For the glossy-spotted longhorn beetle, for eggs and larvae that have not yet bored into the xylem, spray the larvae on the trunk with 50% fenitrothion emulsion at 150 times dilution. For severely affected young trees, cut them down at the base and burn them in a concentrated way, or inject 40% dimethoate emulsion at 100 to 200 times dilution into the bore holes and then seal the holes with mud, which gives good results.

Planted together with other autumn-color trees or evergreen trees, maples set each other off and enhance the beauty of autumn scenery. Friends who are interested can try growing them.