Sugar Maple: 1 Norway Maple: 1 Any more votes? In the forest where this seedling's from, is there anything I could check on the mature surrounding maples to tell what kind they are? I'll try to get a picture - I went to take one last night, but forgot to put the memory card in my camera.....duoyyy

We have sugar, red, and amur maples all over the place here, and I'm pretty sure it's not one of those. If any, *maybe* Amur. Try the UBC maples forum. There are some folks there who seem to know every species out there-- This is what I'm used to seeing for Amur maples (more sharply toothed, more jagged): http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/acgi3.htm Acer rubrum tends to have three lobes that are of a similar size: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/acru5.htm And sugar maples are the obvious flag shape: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/acsa4.htm This page might help you find a photo that looks like your tree: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/1plants.htm#acer

Here’s my inferno. Your autumn blaze will be fine if you give it lots of water and make sure to not encourage it to grow late into the season. It has a tendency to grow too late and burn if it does. Cut off the watering early August and don’t fertilize past May. The only ones I see that seem to bite it or dieback are ones that are in dry neglected areas of the city. People that take care of them seem to do fine with them. There is a 20ft autumn blaze and a couple smaller ones in my town and we are a zone colder. It’s beautiful in fall. I can’t wait for the show in a couple weeks.

Thanks, I'll ask the person who has it. I think what is throwing me off is the crinkled look of the newly opened leaves. We have Norway Maples all around :( and I'm pretty familiar with the mature leaves (and the millions of seedlings).