OT-Trees-Autumn Blaze Maple?

minniemoh

We live in the Twin Cities and recently had a pretty big storm that turned into a full weekend of tree removal. Our lot is nicely wooded and backs up to park land. We lost one large Boxelder tree (I hate those things) and as a result, we had to remove a few others from that tree falling down. We also took the opportunity to do some "manual selection" for our timber. We have quite a few sugar maples and oaks that we would really like to flourish so we took out about a dozen soft woods that were crowding the trees we want to keep. 

We are planning to add some trees and want to maintain our natural woods look and we really like the Autumn Blaze Maple. We had a tree consultant out today and he strongly recommended against them for a number of reasons. He said they grow fast and cause weak limbs but furthermore, they have an issue with root girdling. The root girdling is the big issue and the cost of saving the tree.

Anyone here have any experience in this area?

QDude

We have one and the roots have come to the surface of the lawn causing issues.  I wish I had not planted it.

WeberWho

I'll be watching this thread. We need to plant a few trees ourselves out front. We have bought a few Bachmans trees during their fall clearance sale at headquarters off Lyndale in Minneapolis and couple from Menards. The Bachmans trees have done much better compared to Menards trees.  

minniemoh

I should also add that we won't really have "yard" under these trees. They will go into the void in the open area and also where the two leaning trees are that have not been removed yet. The big tree that fell down was in the slot where you can see my neighbors house. 

He was recommending Sugar Maple trees due to their moderate growth rate and less likelihood to girdle at the roots.

We are planning to add a Norway Spruce to the mix to keep a little privacy by our neighbors Colorado Blue Spruce too. 

Here's a photo for reference.

Biggreenpharmacist

I've got one I planted about 6 years ago. Had two initially but a nice storm with high straight line winds blew one over and snapped it at the ground. The other has grown quickly. I trim the lower limbs so theres no problem mowing under it but it has probably grown 10 feet in height and the trunk is now nearly 8 inches around. I did drive a t-post beside and tie it off to offset any more storms but I'm very happy with it. No problems with the roots as of yet. 

Biggreenpharmacist

LDR

I planted two, and they do grow quickly.  They have beautiful red leaves for about two weeks, here in Arkansas.  One split in half, about eight years old, and the wind that day hadn't been anything amazing.