Hello, I've just joined this forum and I'm excited to listen and learn as I'm sure there will be lots of information here. I left Vancouver and now live in Calgary- a zone change that I am having great difficulties accepting! Anyhow, I've just bought a Korean Maple and I would be so happy to see those beautiful, zen leaves each day! ( I should say for the 5-6 months anyway! ) My questions revolve around the location and planting steps. Location: I've read to put on the east/south side of house if in extreme cold areas. I'm concerned about the chinooks that Calgary receives and think this might be a negative choice. I am considering planting in the front, which is exposed but the west side. I do intend to put up a protective block all the way around it to protect from high wind and possible winter scorching for the first 3 years during the winter. Any advise? Current tree is approx. 8' high. Planting: It has been suggested to make sure the soil is acidic and to add sulpher each year but I cannot find any information online to support that. Any advise? I'd like to plant this weekend and I'm lucky to have options for location in our yard but there is exposure no matter where it goes, so I do need to consider this. I do not mind the maintenance until it is established and would prefer the west side ( so would my neighbors ) if anyone has experience/ suggestions. I appreciate your time, Elisabeth
Hello Elisabeth, I can't offer much advice as to the planting exposition, the Korean maple A. pseudsieboldianum is hardier than the Japanese Maples, but you get pretty cold. I checked a reference and it listed zone 6, but that seems too high as I know it will grow in 5 anyway and perhaps colder. What zone are you in? I'm commenting about the soil advice you've received. Don't worry about the acidity of the soil, the maple will be fine in any normal soil unless it's very high ph indeed. Normally west will be colder in the mornings, that is when the coldest temps happen. This is quite a large tree to establish, I would make sure the root area is well mulched if you have cold without good snow cover. Good luck, it's a great maple! -E
Thanks for the advice emery, I appreciate it! I want to be successful and having support of experienced Maple growers should help that happen. Ok, I won't worry too much about the soil. Do you think the west is an ok choice? You mentioned it's the coldest in the morning but I'm thinking that's better than making it feel warm on and off with our chinooks. I have other trees that I water when it gets unexpectedly warm in the winter and try to keep them dormant so I figure the west is best- but I don't know. How much mulch is suggested? We do get a lot of snow and typically when we shovel our paths we throw the snow around the trees for extra insulation. Thanks for your time, E
You know your own wind and weather patterns best, and of course even within a garden there can be lots of variation. So I figure you'll make the right choice there. Mulching is probably going to turn out more important for summer if you have good snow cover in winter. Or of course if it melts bare and then drops down... I think 4 inches is fine, to protect the roots from drying and heating in the sun in summer, and limit radiational cooling of the earth in winter. I'm not a fan of stone, which heats up, but any sort of wood chip will do otherwise. Even straw is OK although it breaks down quickly. We get a lot of bracken -- a large fern -- and I end up baling some, it makes an excellent mulch once dry. -E
