This is a question I get asked all the time often from gardeners who have far more experience or knowledge than I do but the answer is always the same YES!
A maple canopy is like any other tree canopy it is a superb umbrella. True some of the rain is channelled down the leaves, leaf stems, twigs, branches, trunks down to the roots but most of it actually runs off away from the tree.
A maple canopy is like any other tree canopy it is a superb umbrella. True some of the rain is channelled down the leaves, leaf stems, twigs, branches, trunks down to the roots but most of it actually runs off away from the tree.
For Maples in the ground this isn't a problem at all as they can move their roots outwards no matter how far the canopy stretches. They can also go deeper into the permanently moist level of soil to maintain their water supply.
So in torrential rain like we are experiencing at the present ground growing Maples never run short of water. However their pot grown brethren can quickly run out of water because their canopies shed water over the edge of the pot.
There is an interesting statistic that only 10% of rain falling on a house goes into the ground. The rest is channelled away to the sea or rivers.
100% of rain falling on open ground goes into the ground with only 10% draining off the land.
So if you see your potted Maple canopy like a house roof you can see the potential problem if you do not get your umbrella and watering can out and go and make sure the tree is well watered!
Torrential rain or even constant watering leeches the plant food out of any potted plant. Whilst most don't really care about this as they usually find enough rotting leaves.insect corpses etc releasing their nutrients back into the compost Maples can easily fall into starvation.
As the pots have a clear route for gravity to work its magic on the water i.e. it enters through the top of the pot and leaves as quickly as it came through the drainage hole at the bottom if the flow though is great enough the water takes with it all the soluble plant foods and some of the insoluble food in suspension.
Just try watering a pot with some Baby Bio or other dark coloured liquid fertilizer and see the colour of the water leaving through the drainage holes. The water leaving is exactly the same or even darker in colour than the water entering the compost.
The trick if it can be called a trick is to half whatever strength the manufacturer recommends and water the liquid fertiliser into the pots after the rain has done its things. There is also a way of buffering this loss by inserting pelleted chicken manure into the compost at regular intervals, every six weeks from leaf break to leaf fall. The pelleted manure is a natural slow release fertilize so ensures the tree always has feed available to it when it decides to grow.
So in torrential rain like we are experiencing at the present ground growing Maples never run short of water. However their pot grown brethren can quickly run out of water because their canopies shed water over the edge of the pot.
There is an interesting statistic that only 10% of rain falling on a house goes into the ground. The rest is channelled away to the sea or rivers.
100% of rain falling on open ground goes into the ground with only 10% draining off the land.
So if you see your potted Maple canopy like a house roof you can see the potential problem if you do not get your umbrella and watering can out and go and make sure the tree is well watered!
Torrential rain or even constant watering leeches the plant food out of any potted plant. Whilst most don't really care about this as they usually find enough rotting leaves.insect corpses etc releasing their nutrients back into the compost Maples can easily fall into starvation.
As the pots have a clear route for gravity to work its magic on the water i.e. it enters through the top of the pot and leaves as quickly as it came through the drainage hole at the bottom if the flow though is great enough the water takes with it all the soluble plant foods and some of the insoluble food in suspension.
Just try watering a pot with some Baby Bio or other dark coloured liquid fertilizer and see the colour of the water leaving through the drainage holes. The water leaving is exactly the same or even darker in colour than the water entering the compost.
The trick if it can be called a trick is to half whatever strength the manufacturer recommends and water the liquid fertiliser into the pots after the rain has done its things. There is also a way of buffering this loss by inserting pelleted chicken manure into the compost at regular intervals, every six weeks from leaf break to leaf fall. The pelleted manure is a natural slow release fertilize so ensures the tree always has feed available to it when it decides to grow.
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