I forgot to notice: it is in 7 gallon pot, such huge tree in 7 gallon pot!!!

In the pot, I can see only tiny roots of the tree, no any mulch (exaggerating). My attempts to uncover root crown and remove burls will fail... and pot is very small; so that I plan just make few cuts with knife on side, to prevent roots curling, and to plant it 2" higher than surface, to have a chance to see root crown above the surface in the future. But of course I'll put special mat made from coco fiber and donut-like mulch around.

Here is how messy it looks right now, I put few huge pots around, and tied it with rope to the leg of the table (behind), it falls so easily right now without support:

sorry for this picture :) branches are very long.

Not sure how relevant my comments will be, as I live in a much different zone and Japanese maples of all types thrive here.

I planted a Sango Kaku in my old garden in 1996. It was only about 6' tall at the time but with a clear trunk for at least the first 4' before any branching started. When I moved away from that garden in 2009, the tree was a good 18-20' tall and with a canopy of about equal spread. The trunk itself no longer had any red coloring and most of the oldest limbs were more green than red except on the fine twiggy ends. During the growing season one saw almost no sgn of any red bark....that was a feature that only showed to its best in winter when the tree was out of leaf and cold intensified the stem coloring.

JM's of various types are known for producing long, whippy growth during the growing season and Sango Kaku will do just that. You can head these back to match other growth if they bother you or if you suspect them to be vulnerable to wind damage. Or just leave them be as the tree will catch them up with new growth the following season.

One thing to keep in mind is that colored barked JM's seem to be overly prone to bacterial blight, Pseudomonas syringae, which can be a highy damaging if not fatal pathogen. This is often encouraged by winter cold damage so siting the tree where it receives some winter protection - at least from strong winds - may be best.

I can't see the tree structure clearly enough to recommend any pruning advice. Generally, my recommendation is to plant the tree as-is and let it establish properly and grow on for a couple of seasons before doing any pruning. And I tend to approach pruning any JM's with a very light hand. They never require much and it is far too easy to irreparably alter the habit.

Thank you GardenGal48 for sharing your knowledge and experience!

So, I'll keep this tree "as is" without pruning, even small 5cm twig at the bottom (as a warranty that something can survive 1st Winter), except pruning dead branches after tree leaf out in Spring; wind will trim weak branches anyway OR it will make branches stronger.

I planted it with pinkish side at South (I believe keeping same orientation is important for big adult plants).

I planted it in front of weeping mulberry and European tricolor beech, it will be huge contrast with green mulberry and burgundy-crimson beech:

Trunk area, I am sure root crown is about 3" deeper and I plan to uncover it after 1st season; graft union is right below this small twig (I believe it is grafted); "white stuff" is micorrizae funghi which I put and then watered (absolute unnecessary waste of money for sure):

Pinkish trunk!

I planted it at about 6" above surface in this area and added potting soil around and bark mulch, but I'll remove 1.5" double-layer coco mat around in the future, and I believe root crown is at least 2" deeper (all nursery plants are planted too deep in my opinion); I like seeing root crown at the surface. I'll open it after tree establishes:

I planted my tree on Friday evening, and we had thunderstorm that night, strong wind gusts; extreme hot weather yesterday, hot sun, +34C in area, high humidity, and as you can see tree feels very happy. And it is with rootball of at most 5-gallon (20L)!

Nursery had about 15-20 plants of similar size (7-gal-pot) and this tree was not the best looking by branch structure or by trunk healthiness; but it was unique by trunk colouring, the only one having colouring from the thick bottom, so I took it without too much thinking. They also had smaller 5-gal plants, which were looking as "tree" and not as "bush", but with only small tiny new branches having colouring.

"Selection" :)

P.S.

I realized now, my neighbour has this same JM , behind fence:

In Winter, it is really rich-red, I was wondering what is that... with very gentle small leafs... now I know!

hello there.
It's now a year since you planted your sango kaku... how is it doing? Can you share which nursery you bought this?
Thank you

Tree is doing really great; 1st season in the ground. I trimmed all side branches trying to train it tall but since it is just 1st season hard to say... I think it is bushy anyway, and wide, and I cannot make it tall. Nursery closed last year, it was closing sale.

Glad to hear that it survived winter.... Thanks

Fuad did you get it at Plant World? If so, that was a fine garden centre that closed... i too got some good deals at the end of that last summer when it shut down (2019?).

How's the tree doing? we had a pretty hard winter... I am considering one but I am a zone colder than you (close to newmarket).

I miss Plant World too! I found this thread because I just found a Sango Kaku JM at Home Depot of all places, but now I'm told it won't survive in Toronto (I'm on the west end, south of the QEW). I'm not sure how to proceed with it.

Dunno why you were told it won't survive......there is no reason to assume it won't although you are on the lower end of its hardiness range. Just make sure it is sited where it will be protected from winter winds and with well-drained soil.

Thank you @gardengal48! I'll protect it as much as I can. I was told to put it in a pot and put the pot in the garage for the winter, but I'm thinking I might go ahead and plant it in the ground in a protected spot.

Wow, that is fantastic to hear! Now I'm definitely intending to plant the Sango Kaku in the ground, although it is much younger/thinner than your specimen was when you bought it. Thanks so much for sharing your observations!

Hi! I'm looking forward to seeing any photo updates of your Sango Kaku after it leafs out!