First, I am trying to identify my Japanese Maple - I know its a Green Japanese Maple, however, I am not sure what variety it is. It isn't a lace leaf maple, hit has more of a traditional japanese maple leaf. Bright green foliage in the season. Secondly, I am trying to establish the age of the tree, I cannot find the growth factor for this tree and was wondering if there was anyone who knew of the growth factor or a better way to establish the age of the tree using non destructive techniques. Thanks
There are about a million different "green" Japanese Maples. Do you have pictures of the tree you could post? That would help us get a better idea of what you have. Growth rate is entirely dependant on growing conditions and the variety of the tree in question. There's no way to know the age of a tree just by looking at it.
I have attached some pics for you to look at, sorry if they aren't great, but its a start. I didn't have any of the leaf in summer, but they are green to bright green all season. As for the growth rate, there was an article I saw that indicated you could approximate the age of a tree by using a calculation that included the diameter and the "growth factor" which was a nuber like 5.2 or 4.9, anyway, I would estimate this tree at about 30+ years old, only because I have seen a pic of it 10 years ago and it maybe grew 4 feet in that time, however, that isn't a good determination of the growth becuase of what you mentioned - there are and could be or have been many factors affecting its growth. Anyway, maybe you could tell me the cultivar of this tree? thanks for your help in this matter. Sincerely, Mike Arnold
Looks like Acer palmatum subsp. amoenum, based on leaf shape. Would be very tricky, if not impossible, to narrow it down to a specific cultivar, and may not even be a named cultivar but could instead be a generic seed grown plant. Nice looking tree, I would agree it appears to be at least 30 years old, possibly more. Some kind of historical record (old street photos etc) will be needed to pin the age down more precisely.
Thank you very much. I would incriment bore the trunk, however, I do not want to drill a hole into it. So, I am not sure but I might just stick with approx 30 - 40 years. Thanks again for your help.
Do you think that this particular tree could be the 'Osakazuki' cultivar? I am pointing towards this variety, just becuase of its similarities. What do you think?
Fall color should help you narrow your range of possibilities? What is the fall color? Beautiful tree by the way.
There are a number of them. That's what makes this so difficult, if not impossible: Hinata yama Ichigyogii Omato Hogyoku Tana Oshio beni Green Star Harvest Red Satsuki beni Utsu semi Yellowbird ...and the list goes on. There are over 1000 named Japanese Maple cultivars. Or it could be an un-named seedling planted there years ago for all we know.
