Growing Drummondi Norway Maple

The luxurious Drummondi maple tree with a dense crown looks beautiful not only in park areas, but also on personal plots. Therefore, many people grow these perennial trees.

"Drummondi" is a maple variety that was bred in 1903 in the nursery of the same name. Like most maples, it is a fairly large tree. On average, it grows up to 10-14 meters in height. His crown is thick and beautiful. Maple leaves change color several times a year. In spring they are lighter, in summer they change their color to bright green, and in autumn they turn yellow.

Young seedlings have a light brown bark. Over time, it becomes dark, almost black and covered with small cracks. In early May, flowers appear on the maple; closer to autumn, they are replaced by fruits, which are brownish-yellow lionfish.

Maple is best planted in early spring or late fall. The place in which it will grow should be well lit. You can also plant a maple tree in partial shade. The distance between trees must be at least 3 meters. If maples are used to create a hedge or alley, then it is enough to leave only 2 meters of free space between them. The pit should be prepared in advance. It must be made large so that the entire root system of the tree fits there. On its bottom, before planting, you need to lay out a drainage layer up to 15 centimeters thick. You can use gravel or crushed brick.

The pit prepared in this way must be filled with a mixture consisting of 3 parts of humus, 1 part of coarse sand and 2 parts of sod land. After that, the seedling must be placed in the center of the hole and carefully spread its roots. From above they need to be sprinkled with earth so that the root collar of the maple is several centimeters above the surface of the earth. Then the seedling must be well watered. It costs at least 3 buckets of water to use at a time... The trunk circle of a maple must be mulched with peat or dry leaves.

This tree is not too picky, therefore it does not require special care. It will be enough to water and feed it from time to time with correctly selected fertilizers.

In the first few days, the seedling needs to be watered daily... As soon as it gets stronger, the frequency of watering can be reduced. In summer, maple is watered once a week, and in autumn and spring, once a month. Be sure to monitor the color of the foliage. If it turns pale green, it means that the land is very waterlogged. To correct this problem, it is necessary to reduce the frequency of watering.

You need to apply fertilizers for the normal development of maple on a regular basis. This is best done in early spring. For one tree, you need to use:

• 40-45 grams of superphosphate;
• 20-30 grams of potassium salt;
• 35-45 grams of urea.

Also, in the summer, you can buy water-soluble fertilizer "Kemira" to feed the plant. It is best to add it in the evening, when watering the plant. To feed one tree, 100 g of such a product is enough.

Also, do not forget about loosening the soil and removing weeds around the trunk. This is necessary so that moisture does not leave the ground.In the spring, it is imperative to remove all dry or damaged branches and young root growth. The rest of the time the tree it is worth periodically inspecting and trimming the crown or removing infected shoots if necessary.

Young seedlings for the winter period should be covered either with spruce branches, or with a dense layer of straw or dry leaves. Trees on a trunk for the winter can be wrapped with sacking in several layers. This is required so that the young bark is not damaged during severe frosts.

There are several ways to breed this type of tree.

The easiest way is to use seeds for this purpose. In nature, they ripen in August, fall off in autumn, and begin to sprout in the spring. In order to grow maple from seeds, you need to create conditions for them that are similar to natural ones. Cold stratification is best suited for this purpose. It consists of several stages.

1. Plastic bags are filled with peat moss and vermiculite... The resulting mixture should be sprinkled with a little water.
2. Next, the seeds are placed in the bags.... Each of them should contain about 20 samples. The air from the bags must be removed, and then carefully closed.
3. After that, they need to be moved to the refrigerator. Seeds should be stored at a temperature of 0 to 5 degrees.
4. The package must be checked every one to two weeks. for mold.
5. After 3 months, the seeds must be removed from the refrigerator.... At this stage, the grains are already beginning to germinate.

They can then be planted in soil-filled trays. After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots will appear. In open ground, seedlings can be transplanted after 2-3 years, when they are old enough.

In this case, the branches of an adult plant are used. Several selected shoots must be removed, and then carefully make several cuts across the entire surface of the bark with a sterilized knife. After that, the incisions must be treated with Kornevin or another growth-stimulating agent. Further, the places of the cuts must be covered with a layer of earth.

You can also use branches that were cut in the spring to breed maple. The length of the cutting should be about 20-30 centimeters. It is desirable that there are several buds and leaves on the branch. In this case, the plant will definitely take root. Before planting, the cuttings are also recommended to be soaked in a liquid that stimulates root growth. As soon as the roots grow and harden, they can be planted in a pre-prepared hole. After planting, the plant must be watered abundantly.

In order for maple to live as long as possible, it must be protected from various pests and diseases.... Most often, the tree is affected by coral spot or fungal diseases. It is quite easy to notice that a plant is infected with a fungus. In this case, brown spots appear on the surface of the leaves. To solve this problem, the infected branches must be removed, and the tree must be treated with special means.

Coral spotting is also easy to spot. With this disease, maple branches begin to die off, and the bark becomes covered with burgundy spots. To solve this problem, all damaged branches must be carefully pruned and burned. Places of cuts should be immediately treated with garden varnish. Also, the maple is attacked by insects, which can also greatly harm it. These include:

• whitefly;
• mealybugs;
• weevils.

Maple "Drummondi" is often used in landscape design.Despite its large size, it is great for both single and group plantings. Maple looks great against the background of conifers and shrubs with dark green leaves.

This variety is also quite good suitable for creating alleys. When they are designed, the plants are planted at a distance of about 1.5-2 meters from each other. Since the tree grows fast enough, it will be possible to walk along the alley in the shade of maple trees in a couple of years.

Maple can also be planted in a recreation area. It gives a lot of shade, which means it can be placed next to a terrace or gazebo. Summing up, we can say that the Drummondi maple is a tree that does not require special care. Even a person who is far from gardening can grow it. Therefore, you can safely plant it in your country house and after 2-3 years enjoy the fruits of your work.