i dont know if a 2.5 inch trunked tree.. has recovered from the transplant ... in two or three years ..... so if it is doing weird things.. i am not surprised ... you dont mention height.. nor ball and burlap or potted.. but if you think about a tree being twice as big underground.. as above.. you should appreciate how hard it is working underground.. to catch up to that above .. and it is making decisions??? ... lol... about where it is important to put the energy it makes.. and perhaps fall leaf color is not important to it ..... i know you are asking about culitvar comparisons... and i am taking a different tack ... but i think.. it is important.. for what that is worth .. lol ... how did the rest of your plantings work out ... ??? wasnt there some weird soil ph or something ...????? .. heavy clay .. a couple droughts.. etc ... all i seem to recall.. is that you struggled at first .... but seemed to be having fun doing it ... has it produced acorns yet??? ... other than maybe the first year ... sexual reproduction... threat aside [the planting process] .. may be an indicator of its overall health ... or 'establishment' .... i have about 8 different oaks... they are extremely variable as to fall color.. year to year .... this was not a very colorful year for mine ... two droughts in a row .... this year and last .... nut production was extreme last year.. barely any this year ... everything is variable on a tree... all i look for is that they produced leaves.. and lived .... on a tree that can live centuries.. this year.. and last year.. really dont mean much .... ken

Here are some pictures of a young October Glory red maple taken about three days ago. Here in Pensacola it tends to color up in early November. (I hope the Picasa links work for other people, too.) The tree may have been a bit redder last year, although this may just be optimistic remembering. This would be the tree's third year since planting as a five footer, and this is the third Fall that it's had good color. It's growing in a somewhat damp and mucky spot. Consistent with the hypothesis that these trees need moisture to redden in Fall, a younger October Glory nearby, planted about ten feet higher in elevation, in a somewhat sandy hole, isn't showing much color--at least not yet. A street or a drive lined both sides with these things might be nice.

>One looks more like Norway and one looks more like ShantungReally? Schmidt web site mentions a difference in leaf lobing but according to patent descriptions both were noticed and selected for having big leaves different from those of the Shantung maples in the seedling rows. And their leaves have pretty similar overall appearance in the photos of each used for the Schmidt web site (there is a page on 'Keithsform' as well as the one on 'Warrenred' I linked to). It's possible nearly all those planted here are one of the two, most likely 'Warrenred', so that the different features of the other are not being seen by us.

first....tree time is counted in decades ... not much happens very fast with trees ... second .... huge transplant.. not planted in the prime planting season .. but that happened pretty fast ... and then you redug it ... it would mystify me there is anything else going on.. other than intense severe stress ... digging and moving it from tree farm.. to seller.. to you ... water deeply and properly ... and give it 3 to 5 years to regrow the root mass that it lost ... and next time.. or next tree.. go about half size ... cheaper.. less stresses [you and the plant].... easier to handle.. and in said 5 years period.. will probably outgrow the larger transplant.. because the stresses will be so much less... and it will regrow the lost root mass... and get established and growing faster ... if it were in real bad shape.. ALL THE LEAVES would have browned and fallen off.. and then you would have had something to worry about ... but dont worry to much about off color ... get some mulch on it ... in every post.. include your big city name.. so in this case.. we might understand what summer will bring.. and offer suggestions for the heat of summer... ken https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub