Sugar Maple "Flax Mill Majesty"

[Grenfell]

I planted a new tree on my property today, a sugar maple. The variety as listed by the nursery is Acer saccharum "Flax Mill Majesty". I have a few questions/concerns.

1 - It came as a potted tree. I noticed many of their potted trees had pruning wounds at the base (maples, oaks, etc.) and it seems that they graft branches to existing root systems to make trees faster, in essence. Is this a common practice?

I purchased the tree from a large, reputable nursery and the tree salesman assured me the tree would be fine. I suppose growing from seed simply takes too long...

2 - It seemed to me that the tree was also planted a bit too deeply in the pot, so I planted it a bit higher, as per the advice and info on this forum. I added some mulch as well.

3 - When I took it out of the pot and planted it, I noticed some of the roots were circling. I did not try to move or disturb the roots when I planted it. Should I have tried to straighten/trim the circling roots?

Thx!

 

[treeseer]

yOu should have shaken off all the growing medium in the pot and straightened every root you could, and made the hole wider than the longest root.

"they graft branches to existing root systems to make trees faster, in essence."

Actually, that's the only way to propagate a cultivar; seeds aren't reliable. The rootstock below the graft does look kinda ugly.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Guess what? It's too deep! Find the root flare, that should be 1 inch higher than ground level. Then don't ever put mulch against the trunk.
By the time you get to the root flare, the tree will not be stable enough to support itself. It'll need staking. This nursery stock is so poor, I'd call it very well below average, even in light of the crap sold today.. Please complain. If they give you trouble, send them here. I'll have a word with them.

 

[Grenfell]

Why don't the bloody nurseries tell you important little things like this? It's not like I plant new trees every day.

So I suppose I should gently dig it up and

a) straighten the circled roots (should I trim them or just straighten)?

b) plant visible root flare 1" above ground level.

Sound like a plan?

 

[treeseer]

Yes straighten all the roots you can and only cut the ones that are badly girdling the stem.

But considering that aunken area under the graft, take it back to the nursery. Print out the info sheet on Buying High Quality Trees in the link below and give it to them when you demand your refund, or use the credit to but a decent tree.

 

[Grenfell]

Well, I replanted it higher and it looks better. The bottom portion of the root stalk is drying out and seems solid enough. The root flare is now just above grade and visible. I damaged a few of the finer roots when I re-planted it. The remaining roots I laid out carefully. There were several large, woody roots that had been cut off sharply by the nursery and had new small roots sprouting from the cut ends. It seems to be standing well enough without staking thus far.

However, you have raised enough doubts that I am considering replacing it.

I found a nursery that sells trees grown from seedlings, not grafted. They are grown in the field and root-pruned. As soon as the leaves fall (we're having a late season up here in Eastern Canada) they'll dig them up, burlap them and sell them. They've already been root pruned in place.

So I may buy one of these instead, a native sugar maple.

Thanks again for all the help. Jeez, who would have thought buying and planting a tree was such an ordeal?

Incidentally, on the drive in to work this morning, I paid special attention to many of the city-planted maples along streets. I noticed most were planted too deeply and/or had piles of dirt and decorative rock piled high against the trunk. I also saw a large girdling root at the base of one of them - large enough to catch my eye as I drove past. Kinda sad.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Welcome to our world.
It's not all bad though, a few weeks ago I was doing an estimate and I saw a newly planted tree that was planted at the right depth. Imagine my excitement! The only bad part was it was among 5 or 6 others that were all too deep, so it was an accidental correct planting, but still correct. Made my day anyway.

 

[Grenfell]

Well, I followed your advice and got rid of the tree.

After the root stock had dried a bit I noticed a nasty, dirt-filled crack down the side of it. That was that.

I took it back to the nursery and wrangled a full refund out of them, they were hesitant to give my my cash back. The knowledge I've gained here helped me stand my ground, so thanks again to all of you, esp. treeseer and Mike Maas.

I'll be buying my next tree armed with a far better understanding of what I am looking for and how to plant it.

Thanks again,
Chris