Unique Features: The Autumn Blaze Maple is a seedless hybrid of the red and silver maple. It grows into a broadly pyramidal form. The younger bark is pale silver-grey. Fast growing trees such as the Autumn Blaze benefit from regular (3 to 5 years) pruning. In our high pH soil most maples can develop chlorosis, or iron deficiency. The leaves turn pale green while the veins stay darker green.  This can be treated with iron and sulfur soil amendments. Maples start moving sap earlier, in the late winter to very early spring, which makes them prone to ‘frost cracking’ at that time.  This damages the circulatory system of the tree.  To prevent this, wrap the tree from Thanksgiving until Easter. Because of this early sap movement, the best time to prune maples is late summer to early fall. This ‘early awakening’ also necessitates an increase in winter watering during this time.