Before planting American maple on your site as an ornamental plant, you need to know that it is almost impossible to get rid of it. The natural species is especially aggressive - in addition to its rapid spread, it releases toxins and allergens, inhibiting the surrounding plants.
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Biological Description of American Maple
Ashenel maple is also called American or California. As the name suggests, its homeland is North America. It grows there on heavy clay soils in river valleys. This is a deciduous tree from the Sapinda family. Its maximum height is 21 meters, average - 10 - 15 meters, the crown is high, rare.
Has a reputation for unpretentious and fast-growing tree. With its graceful leaves, it resembles ash.
Young branches have an olive color with a slight bluish bloom. The leaves are complex, consisting of 3 to 13 leaves on long stalks. It blooms in May or June, male and female flowers are located on different trees. The seeds ripen in the fruits of lionfish with two wings, they fly far away in the wind in the fall.
Distribution and use
Maple ash is very unpretentious. He was brought to Europe in the XVIII century. A little over 200 years ago, he appeared in the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden. In Soviet times, this tree was used for landscaping cities.
Maple has proved to be an ideal plant for urban conditions. He well tolerated the gassed city air, summer overheating and winter freezing of the soil. But ecologists did not take into account the ability of the tree to form abundant root shoots and to propagate quickly by self-sowing.
As a result, ash-leaved maple went beyond the boundaries of the territory allotted to it in cities, and began to actively breed in nature. Now it can be found in the floodplain forests of the Volga and the Urals, it grows in Irkutsk and Verkhoyansk.
All of the above applies to the species maple and does not apply to its decorative varieties, with caution they can be used to decorate the site.
- For example, “Flamingo” due to its compact size is suitable for small areas. The complex leaves of this tree have a white-cream border, this gives the crown airiness. And in the spring, young leaves are painted a soft pink color with white, green and olive blotches. Closer to the autumn white stripes of leaves also acquire a pink hue.
- Another beautiful variety is Odesanum. This tree has a beautiful, bright color of foliage - bronze when blooming, and then lemon yellow.
- "Baron" is more suitable for urban landscaping. He has a compact crown and does not form seeds.
- The grade "Elegance" is interesting. The sheet is smaller and slightly wrapped. Grace adds a whitish yellow border.
According to the requirements for growing conditions, varieties are no different from ordinary species maple.
Any soil is suitable for the tree; it is resistant to drought and temporary flooding, very photophilous, especially varieties with variegated foliage.
Winter hardiness of plants increases with age, young seedlings in snowless, windy winters can freeze very much. The only thing that distinguishes varietal varieties from natural ones is that they are completely non-aggressive.
The harm done by the tree
A tree is considered a malignant weed that damages human health and plants. He is not confused by frosts, he is not afraid of drought, deforestation and even burning out does not help the first time. Winter hardiness of a plant increases with age, only young seedlings can freeze.
Ash-leaved maple began to actively displace local plant species from the ecosystem.
This is facilitated by the early entry into the fruiting stage, a quick change of generations, the peculiarity of the roots and fallen leaves can release toxins that inhibit the growth of other plants. Therefore, ash-leaved maple is listed in the Black Book of Russia as a plant that threatens the biological diversity of species.
How to get rid of American maple on the site
To destroy the American maple on the site, different methods are used:
- Uprooting. This laborious task requires time and effort. It is advisable to use special agricultural machinery and tools.
- Burning out. Effective method if the plot is very overgrown. A little gasoline is poured onto the saw cut of the tree and set on fire. Repeat several times until the tree dies.
- Herbicide treatment. They use preparations such as Roundup, Glysol, Zero, Glykor, etc. They spray plants on leaves in spring or summer, during the active growth of a tree.
- File cutting. The tree is cut down, a thick layer of salt is poured onto the cut, and wrapped with oilcloth. Salt has a depressing effect on maple roots, but does not harm other plants on the site.
Currently, ash-tree maple is not used for landscaping parks and city streets. It is impossible to destroy it, just like other plants, because from the place of one felled tree grows from 10 to 20 new trunks. An ideal method of destruction can be considered a combined approach, when the trees are uprooted in autumn, and in the spring the area where they grew is treated with herbicides.
