How did the ash-leaved maple plant enter our territory in the 19th century and immediately take root? The climatic conditions of Russia pleased him. And the inhabitants of the country fell in love with a tree for an openwork crown, beautiful leaves and unpretentiousness.
Material Content:
Biological description of ash maple
American maple is called ash-tree for the fact that its foliage resembles ash. This is one of the species of the genus maples of the family maple (sapinda). It looks like a short tree or bush with several trunks, the branches are covered with oddly pinnate leaves of an intricate shape - from three to seven leaflets 10-18 centimeters long, which with autumn cold, changing color, become a real decoration. The top of the leaf is sharp, the edges are “cut out” by denticles. Its lower part is covered with a light fluff; the leaf plate darkens upward. Green leaves crown the top of the maple crown, and the hue becomes silvery down.
This maple is a dioecious plant, that is, male and female flowers appear on its various branches. The first are like hanging bunches of red. The second is green and looks like brushes.
The maple has white fluffy buds, the fruit with one seed is equipped with long, about four centimeters, “wings” that can carry it with the wind to a sufficiently large distance from the parent.
The “American” is developing very quickly, is undemanding to the ground and is able to withstand severe, even minus forty, frosts. What for our, sometimes very cold winters, excellent quality. A positive feature is the fact that the tree feels great in the conditions of gassed urban air, does not require much moisture and loves the sun.
The disadvantages include fragile, too brittle branches. This somewhat complicates the design of the crown.
Individual representatives of the species can live up to 100 years, in the wild, the life span is usually 65-70 years. And in the city, even though the maple feels quite comfortable, it dies after 30 years.
Distribution and use
The birthplace of ash maple is Acer negundo - North America. It can be found in deciduous forests, in swampy areas and in mountainous areas from southern Canada to Guatemala, in most of the USA and Mexico, in the Far East and Central Asia. In Russia, it grows in the European zone of the country and in Siberia. It coexists wonderfully with California ash, narrow-leaved poplar, large-fruited oak, and willow.
Use the "American" for different purposes.
- These trees feel good in sandy or saline soil, strengthen the edges and slopes of the ditches, preventing them from expanding.
- Ashenel maple is a generous honey plant, bees will never fly by.
- Seeds are valuable with a high oil content of 15 percent; pericarp contains 2 percent of essential oils.
- American maple is a real find for landscaping city streets, planting cozy park alleys: it grows quickly, adapts to the atmosphere, looks nice.
- It is good as a decoration of a garden plot until other trees have risen: it grows much faster. Often combined with less fragile woody flora.
- It quickly recovers after pruning and gives a lot of shoots, so it is sometimes used as a living fence.
- Wood, although not durable, goes to wooden sculptures, containers. From it make decorative vases, handles for cold steel. And also doors, furniture, parquet and even bowling alleys. And all because of the softness and pleasant color of wood - from light to brown-red tones.
- The plant produces sweet juice from which sugar is made in America.
Ecological harm caused by the plant
Despite its useful qualities, Acer negundo also has features, for which it is sometimes called a weed with vexation:
- Maple belongs to the category of highly invasive representatives of the flora, that is, it grows rapidly, already in its sixth year begins to bear fruit and is able to displace other types of vegetation quite soon;
- the spread of its many winged "kids" is very difficult to control, it requires serious efforts and resources;
- rhizome intensively grows in all directions and often destroys asphalt;
- fallen maple foliage releases toxic substances into the ground, which slow down the growth and development of "neighbors";
- the crown is thick and low hanging - an excellent refuge for the accumulation of ticks;
- brittle branches, falling asleep to the area after a gust of wind is stronger or rain.
Garden and decorative varieties
Huge popularity among gardeners and owners of summer cottages won the decorative variety - ash maple "Flamingo". What is the reason, you can guess by the name: his white-pink young leaves look very elegant.
Relevant in the garden and "Flamingo" with variegated white-yellow foliage, since these small trees have very neat and compact crowns that do not require shaping.
There are decorative "Americans" with pale pink leaves or green in a pink touch. By autumn, it is difficult to take your eyes off them - the foliage turns into a bright pink or dark pink with green stripes "bonfire". Beauty is maintained by cutting the crown every spring. A tree looks very interesting next to decorative deciduous brethren of other species.
There is a golden flamingo.Extremely advantageous and contrasting, he does not look in splendid isolation, but in an ensemble with different garden plants.
Features of growing a tree
American ash maple is an unpretentious creature that can grow in any soil and does not claim constant attention. However, in order for it to become an eye-catching decoration of the garden, some rules are best followed.
Landing:
- in autumn or spring, in the open;
- prepare a pit 50x50x70 centimeters;
- a mixture of three parts of humus, two parts of turf and one part of sand is laid in the pit;
- place a drainage layer with a thickness of 20 centimeters (from expanded clay or construction waste with sand);
- distance to other plants - not less than four meters. If the goal is to create a living fence, then one and a half to two meters.
The baby immediately needs to be watered, not sparing water. Then you need to drink it once a month, pouring at least 15 liters under the root.
Not a capricious tree itself develops well, but at least once, soon after planting, it does not hinder to feed it with one hundred grams of a mixture of potassium, urea and superphosphate (in a ratio of 1: 2: 1). Or even add the nutrient mixture to the pit when planting. And in the spring to treat again - now potassium and sodium. A hundred grams per meter is enough for this.
Caring for maple ash in open ground
"American" often resembles a bush rather than a tree. The maple needs to be cut to shape the crown. This can be done throughout the entire growing season, at the same time “killing two birds with one stone” - saving the tree from dry and diseased twigs and preserving its beauty. It is necessary to remove the extra shoots, removing them at the very base.
In order for the maple to immediately remind everyone in the fall that it is a pink Flamingo, do not be too lazy to pinch the sprouts in the summer. Then the color of the leaves will remain.
As already mentioned, frost resistance is an important characteristic of a plant. Therefore, he does not need some special preparation for the winter cold. Just in case, it is worth wrapping fir branches or thick burlap trunk at the very roots only to young trees.
Maple attacks marble blotch. The bark is covered with convex red spots resembling pads, individual branches die. To save the culture, the affected areas are removed, moreover, with a thoroughly disinfected tool. Wounds are lubricated with garden var, spraying sleeping buds with a weak solution of vitriol.
The fact that the handsome man fell ill with powdery mildew, a powdery light coating on the bark will beep. To combat the harmful fungus, a solution of ground sulfur and lime is diluted in a ratio of 2: 1 and sprayed.
How to get rid of American maple on the site
The fact that without proper control the site can turn into the kingdom of one plant, American maple, was mentioned above. As well as the fact that getting rid of it is not so simple. How to destroy maple ash if it began to creep across the garden?
- Young shoots are better to uproot, so as not to use chemicals again.
- If the shoot has managed to take root, grow up, and even begin to bear fruit, there is no way to do without herbicides. Fortunately, the American maple is afraid of most of them.
