Sun Valley Maple Tree Profile: Info, Care & Growing Guide

Sun Valley Maple Tree is a large deciduous tree originally from the East Coast of the United States. Sun Valley Maple Tree is fast-growing, up to 12 meters high, the crown 9 meters. The tree has a symmetrical oval crown with red flowers, medium green leaves in spring and orange to red leaves in autumn. Sun Valley Maple Tree is an improved horticultural variety of Sun Valley Maple Tree and has high ornamental value.

Sun Valley Maple Tree picture

Characteristics of Sun Valley Maple Tree

Sun Valley Maple Tree is a deciduous large tree with a height of 12-18 meters and up to 27 meters with a crown of more than 10 meters. sun valley maple Tree shape is upright and upward with an elliptical or circular crown and a graceful opening. Leaves are simple, opposite, 3-5-lobed, palm-shaped, 10 cm long, bright green on the surface, pale back, reddish on the front, green to dark green on the back, grayish green on the back, some white down. Stems of sun valley maple tree are smooth, lenticellata, usually green, often turning red in winter. The new bark is smooth and light gray. Old bark is coarse, dark gray, scaly or wrinkled. The fruit of  Sun Valley Maple Tree is a samara, mostly reddish, turning brown at maturity, 2.5-5 cm long. 

Sun Valley Maple Tree is a hybrid of "Sunset Red" and "Autumn Flame". It was released in 1994. Sun Valley Maple Tree usually grows to a round to oval height of 12-18 m. Sun Valley Maple Tree grows faster than Norway maple and sugar maple, but slower than silver maple. Sun Valley Maple Tree has dense branches, a uniform, dense, plump, symmetrical ovoid crown, and a brilliant red color in autumn. Early spring blooms along the branches, red and fruitless.

Sun Valley Maple Tree Growth Habit

Sun Valley Maple Tree is best suited to average wet soil conditions, but also tolerates some chronic ponding. All soil types grow well, but there is a certain preference for acidic soils, and leaves in alkaline soils are greenish-yellow. Tolerant to urban pollution.

The color of Sun Valley Maple Tree leaves turns red or yellow. The main reason for the color change is that there are several material elements in the leaves that determine the color of Sun Valley Maple Tree leaves. They are: chlorophyll, chloroplast, sugar, anthocyanin, carotene and so on. Chlorophyll, chloroplast is undoubtedly the expression of green. Anthocyanins are red in color and purple in the presence of alkaline substances. Carotene is orange or yellow, and sugar is called anthocyanin or carotene by Sun Valley Maple Tree depending on the environment. In spring, the new leaves of Sun Valley Maple Tree will show a little red, mainly due to the influence of anthocyanin. Later, when the leaves grow up, they begin to carry out photosynthesis and synthesize a large number of chloroplasts and chlorophyll, and the leaves of Sun Valley Maple Tree gradually turn green. (Find more fall plants here.)

Sun Valley Maple Tree Propagation

There are two main propagation methods in Sun Valley Maple Tree, sexual propagation and asexual propagation. 

Sexual propagation is commonly by seed seedling, gene will occur in the process of sexual propagation of restructuring, mutate, that is to say the Sun Valley is obtained by seed propagation traits of Maple trees is unstable, which creates a Sun Valley Maple Tree color changing time is not stable, may not change color, may, and maternal plant leaf color is different.

Asexual propagation is generally carried out by cutting seedling, tissue culture and other ways of cultivation. The saplings directly inherit the traits of the mother and do not mutate. That is to say, Sun Valley Maple Tree seedlings will show the same color as the leaves of the mother plant. The discoloration of Sun Valley Maple Tree seedlings obtained through asexual reproduction will be very stable.
Read Next: How to Propagate Sun Valley Maple Tree

Sun Valley Maple Tree Care

Seed selection

The Sun Valley Maple Tree seedling market is in such a chaotic state that it is vital to select reliable seed companies to buy good varieties, otherwise you will lose all your money. There are no less than 30 varieties of Sun Valley Maple Tree in China, which is not easy to distinguish. Especially the young seedling stage can only be distinguished from the leaves. People who have been planting Sun Valley Maple Tree for 10 years cannot tell the varieties 100% from the leaves, let alone ordinary growers. At the same time, most of Sun Valley Maple Tree will have red leaves in the seedling stage, which makes the variety identification more confusing. Buy seedlings must choose brand, high - quality provenance company. 

Soil

Silty loam. This kind of soil is ideal.

The black clay. This soil quality is generally due to previous rice planting, poor air permeability but high fertility. It is better to plough deeply before the Spring Festival. After freezing in the winter, the soil will be frozen crisp in the next spring, and the soil structure will be greatly improved.

The soil is alkaline. Sun Valley Maple Tree likes more acidic soil. Slight alkalinity does not affect much, but in order to make it grow better, ferrous sulfate can be applied to neutralize alkalinity, so that the soil is neutral to more acidic. The soil layer is thin. Because Sun Valley Maple Tree is a shallow-root tree, the soil layer thickness of 50 centimeters can meet the conditions for the big tree to hit the soil ball, if the soil layer is less than 50 centimeters, you can make large soil ridges and plant them on the ridges.

Management

Sun Valley Maple Tree is a fast growing species, and the growth rate is completely dependent on water and fertilizer management. Good management can make the growth rate of Sun Valley Maple Tree more than 2 cm in one year. The cultivation of Sun Valley Maple Tree in the United States has been refined to different stages of seedlings and different times of water and fertilizer control (such as formula of infant milk powder, aiming at different ages). DoubleTree customers will provide management manuals free of charge. 
Read Next: How to Grow and Care for Sun Valley Maple Tree

Sun Valley Maple Tree Diseases Care

The diseases and insect pests of Sun Valley Maple Tree are mainly caused by longicorn beetles, mainly including black mite and longicorn glabrostris. Timely treatment after discovery will not affect the tree.

Black mite

The spacing of the Sun Valley Maple Tree is increased in afforestation, being 5 meters or so commonly, can prevent the larva between tree and tree to spread.

Pay attention to the use of N, P and K fertilizers combined with pruning, so that Sun Valley Maple Tree trees grow vigorously and resist pests and diseases.

Early spring trees before germination with oil emulsion 100 times the liquid spray trunk, or crystal stone sulfur mixture 50- 100 times the liquid spray trunk, in order to eliminate overwintering eggs.

When the harm is serious, use triazole tin or the net mite of 1500- 2000 times the liquid control, white red mite of 2000 times the liquid control, etc. 

Sawyer 

Anoplophora glabripennis: body length about 35 mm, black, metallic luster, leathery wings, white spots, black tentacles.Mainly in the trunk of the tree to lay eggs, eggs bite a inverted T - shaped mouth, produced in the bark, eggs are milky white. Larvae 50 mm long, milky white, the chest back plate yellow brown, after more than a month into the xylem feeding. 

Anoplophora glabripennis

To strengthen the cultivation and management of trees, increase the resistance of trees, pay attention to pruning, and timely cut off the sick and residual branches.

Sun Valley Maple Tree is an effective control method to capture adult and larva artificially, use the adult to move between the tree trunk after emergence, capture the adult artificially, and hit the oviposition with the cone at the place where the eggs are laid.

Drug prevention and control for Sun Valley Maple Tree, with polyester drug prevention and control, such as high efficiency cypermethrin fat 1500 times the liquid spray trunk, or with this drug 800 times the liquid injection of longicorn beetle excretion hole prevention and control.

Sun Valley Maple Tree Uses

Sun Valley Maple Tree is a classic colored street tree in Europe and America with bright red and beautiful leaves. Sun Valley Maple Tree is widely used in landscaping. In the United States, it is commonly used as a tree species for shelterbelts and scenic forests in arid areas.