Hi everyone! Last year 2021 May I purchased a beautiful little Bloodgood maple to put on my screened in balcony in a pot. I just fell in love with the red/purple color and the shape - something that adds a little nuance to the surrounding greenery. It kept it's color throughout the summer and fall and right before the winter I put in the underground garage (out of light and cold). We get really low winter temperatures here in Estonia (-30 C /-22 F or even more). Also I did just just a little pruning before putting it in the garage, because it was really throwing some branches out in the fall. Anyways, this year in the middle of March 2022, I decided to bring it out from the darkness of the garage again (because new leaves were coming out) and to my surprise - they where green with a little hint of red. I've always read that the spring colors are pure red for Bloodgood so I'm just a little puzzled. Perhaps anyone has recommendations what should I do, what have I missed or I'm overthinking it? Nevertheless it is still a beautiful plant - even when it's green. Just maybe I have really messed up something and could still help the plant with its colors? I used acidic soil (5.0 PH peat moss mostly) and I haven't used any fertilizer yet because the peat moss already had some added in it - or should I add something organic during spring? As far looking at the park, I can see it's a grafted maple, but there's no branches coming out of it or anything. I'm adding some pictures also where you can see the previous summer color and the current situation. Romet
Good evening Romet and welcome to the maples forum. Unfortunately you no longer have a Bloodgood but an Acer palmatum. This is the rootstock that was used for the Bloodgood graft. During your pruning you removed the Bloodgood scion / leader. Now Acer palmatum is a lovely tree in itself, so you can keep it, but it will always be green. Hope that's of help in understanding of what has happened to your maple.
While it is possible the scion was pruned off, it looks to me as if it is still there, looking at the graft junction. The other possibility is the light situation - a Bloodgood will turn green if it does not get enough light, best colours are in direct sun...
Hi! Oh I see what you mean there yes. Well that's a shame if I pruned off the leader but I will definitely still keep it. I thought that pruning from above the graft joint is safe - something do remember next time. Thanks!
It looks to me as if the growth is coming from the scion and not the rootstock, but it is sometimes hard to tell from a photograph. It is safe to prune above the graft joint as long as you do not prune off everything above! If the colour comes back with more sunlight you will know if you still have a Bloodgood or not.
To be clear, I will post a pic below of what I am seeing. If, as I suspect, the grafted scion is still alive then the odd appearance must be due to environmental conditions, probably lack of light in the dark garage followed by screened in balcony.
Yep. I was about to post a message showing "red" maples that I keep in the shade because they're very young, and the red colours rapidly disappear.
