It is amazing. Speaking with the farmer behind us he believes his corn is about 2 weeks behind because the rainfall has come down in very short periods and mostly run off. On top of that most of the large rain producing systems have gone either north or south of us so far. It all evens out in the end so of course last night and today we got pounded with rain. On the bright side I will not have to water it for a while. The mulch now does look kind of weird compared to the way everyone else piles up mulch to the trunk. Hopefully as it grows I can expand the mulch ring and keep it not as deep so that it is more flat and does not draw attention to the flare as if it disappears into a hole of mulch. Thanks for all the advice and I will keep an eye on the tree the rest of the summer and provide updates. My hope is that the tree is putting a lot of energy into creating new roots so that way it can take up nutrients and plant itself firmly in the ground since it is in a very windy location. Then in the next couple of years it can start adding height. Kimberly, keep me updated if your tree retains its leaves. Mine have been red for a few weeks and none have dropped. My hope is that they will stay on for some time and then those branches will leaf out again next year. Do you have pictures of the tree? I would be interested to see if it looks the same as mine posted. I hope I can ask one more question: When a tree is stressed and drops leaves early, does that branch also die? For example, on the couple of branches that all the leaves are red, do the leaves just die off or does the branch usually die off and need to be cut out the following year? My thoughts on the landscapers/nurseries that sell the trees are they are much more short sighted that what we believe. I think it is not much about selling you another tree down the road when the one they put in dies. I think it is about the process of putting it in. They came with a 2 Â 2.5" caliber tree with a large root ball and a bag of mulch. They left with nothing. I would think that once they dig this big of a hole, plant the tree and use some to backfill, they would be left over with quite a bit of clay from deep in the hole. Instead of taking it away they just pile it on top of the root ball, cover it with mulch and leave empty handed. If you think about it, and they had to take away just a few buckets of soil from each tree they planted, this would create a problem for them with what to do with it. It is much easier on their part to plant wrong that do what is right. It is too bad because if they would have just left a pile of the soil that was not needed, I could have found a use for it.

It's a maple that's probably as close that you're going to get to being nearly sterile. Reference link below: "Variation within the species: Red maple forms natural hybrids with silver maple (A. saccharinum): Acer X freemanii E. Murray. The hybrids, however, are nearly sterile." Dax Here is a link that might be useful: Second Link from the top of the page: doc - SILVER MAPLE

I know what your saying. I'd make sure you ask for a discount, or make sure there is some type of coupon. Its not in the nursery's best interest to overwinter B&B product. 2" caliper would be a good size. Just make sure you have a well branched tree with a noticable central leader. Try to avoid co-domindate leaders. I would go with Sun Valley over the October Glory as well. The more I read the more I see that Red Maples are going to be subject to chlorosis (yellowing of leaves) in aklaline soils. So if you have anything more than slightly alkaline looks like you need to go to the Autumn Blaze. Fall color may not be as brilliant and it is a "little" more suseptible to breakage (good branch structure and proper crotch angles will help alleviate any breakage problems). I wouldn't really worry about it, unless your very prone to severe ice storms or severe winds storms (winds gusting more than 50 MPH). But, Autumn blaze is faster growing and much more tolerant of drought and alkaline soils.

You could splint it with bamboo (see link in bottom of post) but I'm not sure if that would be needed. I would simply driveve two 8 foot stakes into the ground (would need to soak the ground for a bit in your climate) and tie as shown in the picture. One to pull it straight and the other to stabilize it. Search for "sturdy stake 8ft" and you will see what stakes that shold be sturdy if driven at angle away from the tree. Home depot, Menards, etc.. all have them. To pull it straight you will want a good a good material that will not dig into the bark. I have had great luck with Arbor Tie and you can buy on Amazon or you could use something similar and much less expensive, but you can reuse it over and over if you don't mind getting a large amount at once. Either way, check out this YouTube video on how to tie a knot without hurting the tree... https://youtu.be/KUCceRETFL0 It will move with the wind but as it grows and gains caliper it should stay start to hold this position. https://books.google.com/books?id=gXg-oWDB8dgC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=gillman+mew+leader+spliny&source=bl&ots=s7pK3XMxCC&sig=SfiQTccdaPwzYhjQLrTAYuy5uUA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpxKSurv7NAhVH2oMKHVYKAZsQ6AEIHTAA Good luck, and before you know it this thing will be taking off!