It's a unique spot and the plan has been to preserve the majority of the woods but the landscape around the house was just to overgrown. Yews and Euonymus gone wild and scrub trees and brush throughout. It was overgrown landscape up close, scrub trees throughtout. I removed all of these and then indeed there were some 60+ yo pines that were felled.. I didn't let them touch the Norway Spruce I've planted around the house with paperbark maple, stewartia, JM's, Rhodies and dwarf conifers..no its not completely natural but IMO its an improvement. Around the perimeter of the yard there are some redbuds and dogwoods. My hope is also to get more Tsuga growing among pines and Spruce. Thats also why I'm interested in the acer rubrum...more species. Some may say leave it alone ..this is a forest. But its not really a "natural forest" when it was planted with one species of pine as part of the roosevelt project. I fear one day that something will wipe the pine out..although with the other species I think it will be fine. My hope is to live here the next 40 years... I need the house to last that long (the cedar siding likely would not of..lol) but i also want a nice woodlands surrounding the home. I appreciate your thoughts

Red maples are so named because of their flower color, not because of fall foliage :-) Coloring can be quite variable, depending on cultivar, climate and growing conditions and seedlings will not necessarily duplicate the same features as their parent. Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants says this: "Red Maple does not always have brilliant red fall color and unscrupulous plantsmen who offer seedling trees and guarantee red fall color are frauding the public." He goes on to say "in the Southeast, particularly the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, Red Maple is abudant but bright red fall coloring plants are seldom evident."

If barerooted by grower, fine feeder roots will have been lost. These are not replaced until the first autumn after planting, so a barerooted tree planted in spring will not resume a normal rate of top growth until the following spring. Othewise, if it was in poor condition before planting it will establish more slowly into the new site. Liberally amended planting holes can also cause slow (or even failed) establishment, by affecting how soil water moves into and out of the planting hole.

You're right on schedule brother... Red Maple does not mind moisture, at all. If you can for the greatest success, bring your hose out to the tree and rest it a few inches from the trunk and let the water slowly trickle for a 1/2 hour or an hour, once a week or once every two weeks. There's absolutely nothing wrong with your Ross stuff every month or whatever the label calls for. Nothing wrong at all. You keep this schedule for a couple years and then when and if summers become extremely dry of rain, bring the hose out again, once-monthly. Let it trickle for at least and hour or more. It is recommended to cease fertilization at the second week of August in our climate because fertilizer past this point only promotes soft-tissued, shoot - that are not hardened off when winter comes around. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with using your fertilizer/hormones a few weeks prior to winter (say the second week of Nov. - Dec.). This sort of fertilization will go directly to the roots and give the tree a boost for the following year. There are a ton of theories about correct techniques.... and I've been around for a while. Mulch, keep it an inch or two away from the trunk and keep it between 2" and 3" thick. Extend the mulch to the dripline or further (maybe this will help make mowing easier). Make a nice big circle, that's what I do. Take Care & Best of luck, Dax