Hardwood maples?

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FrillyLily springfield area, MO(Zone 5b) Jun 23, 2010

Some guy told me that some maples have soft wood, and some are hard wood maples. He said the soft wood maples root shallow and get into your flower beds, have surface roots that are hard to mow over ect. The hard wood maples he said root deeper instead of spreading out as much.
I have a red maple Autumn Blaze (I think) about 25 feet or so from my flower bed, will it ruin the bed?
I had a silver maple in my front yard, someone planted long ago before we moved in. It ruined the neighbors garage floor, buckled it, and my flower bed in the front. We cut it down.
Thankfully it was smack in the fence line, so at least they couldn't say *our* tree ruined their floor. It was her grandfather that planted it to start with.

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Weerobin Saint Louis, MO(Zone 6a) Jun 24, 2010

I have an acer rubrum planted right outside the front door which has extremely dense surface roots. There's no way you can put a trowel in the soil anywhere under the full canopy of the tree. It's a challenge finding plants that can tolerate that degree of root competition.

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pastime Waterman, IL(Zone 5a) Jun 24, 2010

I think you're safe at 25 feet. A lot of Maples on the market are crosses of Silver Maple. I think Autumn Blaze is one. I have a couple of those crosses in my yard (not Autumn Blaze). I'm finding surface roots about 10' feet away from the trunk, which is about as far out as one of the branches reach. They are soft, messy and break easily in high winds. I have a couple Autumn Blaze maples far away from the house. They seem to behave a lot better. Their branches aren't stretching out like the other type in the yard. They have survived the two recent storms we had with 60+ MPH winds with no breakage. I haven't noticed any surface roots when I mow by them. They are about 8 years old and 20' tall. They were very large specimens when I got them and were brought in with a tree spade. It's taken several years for them to recover the move. I think they're nice trees so far and the fall color is great.

But again, they are a good 50' from the house or any garden.








This message was edited Jun 24, 2010 5:46 AM

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