How to Care for Red Maple Bonsai
Your Red Maple Bonsai
Red Maples will tolerate full sun to part shade. This native tree is fast and easy to grow especially if you let them thicken up in the ground. If the new spring growth dies back your tree may have Verticillium wilt or Anthracnose. Prune back to a node below the infected area. Leaf scorch is not a disease to spray for but usually a symptom of increased temperature and winds and a shallow root system. Look for brown areas between the veins. Defoliation is terrible horticulture due to the excessive unnecessary stresses on any healthy plant. Maples take pruning well. Use directional pruning and bud selection and use any possible deadwood features to help look more naturally aged. Roots thrive in a cool, moist substrate high in organic matter.
- The natural growth habit of older trees becomes a spherical to columnar crown with symmetrical, ascending branches
- Irregular to rounded crown with age
- Ascending to upright branches
- Petioles, flowers and fruit red
- Red fall color
- Bark rough and scaly with age
- Superior to other native soft maples for bonsai
- Seedlings variable in form, growth rate and fall color
