Unique Features: The Autumn Fantasy Maple is another seedless hybrid of the red and silver maple. It grows into a narrower pyramidal form and usually has a deep red fall color. Fast growing trees such as the Autumn Fantasy 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 early, in the late winter to 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.