I have been out (of course) following the maples to see how they fared this year. It has been a mild winter and an up and down one with the temps here in Boise Idaho. Not much leafing out to show, but I do appreciate the different branching character of the little (mostly) trees. I have some questions about root flares and the supporting roots that seem to be forever rising up alongside--I think they are called buttressing roots? I plant the trees with the root flare at ground level, but either the soil settles a lot or the trees pull themselves up? Should I constantly be covering these roots especially the fine little ones? We have a dry hot climate for most of the summer, so they are mulched pretty well, but I pull the mulch away more in the spring so I can see how things are and then there are these raised roots. I am including photos of some of the trees and their structure--almost all I have to show so far this spring. Also included are photos of Beni schichihenge that lost some of its trunk to disease last year. It seems to keep trying. Have sprayed it with copper sulphate quite a bit. It is starting to get leaves. The Kumoi nishiki I just transplanted with the root flare at ground level. The Amber Ghost was planted last in the fall of 2014. You can tell from the close up how it is rising up out of the ground. The last photo is of an unknown (the tag was missing) maple I planted last fall. I was wondering whether the marks on the bark are some burning or some disease or maybe it is one of the rough bark maples starting to show the rough bark--if someone happens to have an idea let me know! Thanks.
I like to see the root flare, it's impressive on some Maples and I plant them high so it shows but do mulch the wider area. What you are showing in the photos is how many of my Maples look with the flare exposed.
Yep, you've planted them perfectly :) Many people plant them too deep, ideally you want to see that flare. The Beni schichihenge trunk doesn't look very good; hopefully your efforts will keep it going, but with that cracking, especially so low, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make it through the growing season. Keep trying though, they can surprise you! Can you get a closer/larger picture of the affected area on the unknown maple? It's hard to tell from the picture you've uploaded what might be going on.
