Field maple

Field maple: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Small tree of 10–20 m with a rounded crown, or a dense shrub in a hedge or hedgerow.

Leaf

Opposite, small (5–10 cm), with 3–5 rounded lobes without pointed teeth. The leaf stalk contains milky sap.

Bark

Light brown and finely fissured; young twigs often have corky ridges.

Flower

Small yellow-green flowers in upright clusters in May, with the leaves.

Fruit

Winged fruits whose wings spread out horizontally, in a single line.

Difference from Norway maple

Norway maple has a much larger leaf with long, pointed teeth.

Flowering: May · Pruning: June–October

Identify by feature: Palmate leaves · Opposite leaves · Winged seeds

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Norway maple Acer platanoides: much larger leaf with long, pointed teeth. Difference from Norway maple

Why grow it?

• One of the best hedging plants: dense, tough and easy to clip.
• Golden-yellow autumn colour, both as a hedge and as a tree.
• Flowers for bees in May; the aphids on it attract ladybirds.
• As a small tree, pollard or pleached tree it also fits into an ordinary garden.

Field maple: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; in a hedge it also tolerates some shade.
• Preferably fertile, chalky soil such as loam and clay; on poor, acid sand it grows less well.
• Tolerates drought and urban soil fairly well.
• As a tree, allow for a crown of 8 m; as a hedge it suits any garden.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

15 m tall, 8 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Hawthorn: Together a mixed native hedge full of blossom, berries and nesting places.
• Hornbeam: A second tough hedging plant; together the hedge stays dense everywhere.
• Spindle: Also likes chalk and turns red in autumn, with pink fruits next to the golden yellow of the maple.
• Dog rose: Flowers in June and gives hips: even more food for birds in the hedge.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Together a mixed native hedge, good for birds and insects: hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, dog rose, common dogwood, guelder rose, wild privet, hornbeam
• Tolerate the shade under this tree: oregon grape, rhododendron, oleaster, japanese skimmia, garden privet, camellia, laurustinus, box-leaved honeysuckle

Field maple: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or with a root ball.
2. For a hedge: 3–4 plants per metre in a single row, or 5 per metre in a staggered double row.
3. Dig over the strip beforehand and work in compost; plant at the same depth as before.
4. Cut hedging plants back by a third after planting: this makes them branch out at the base.
5. Give a tree a stake on the windward side, and water everything generously after planting.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first year; rarely needed after that.

Feeding

A little compost under a hedge in spring; a tree needs nothing.

Mulch

Keep the ground under a young hedge free of grass and cover it with leaf mould or wood chips.

Old hedge

A bare, overgrown hedge can be cut back hard: it regrows well.

Tip: Mix field maple with hawthorn, hornbeam and dog rose in a mixed hedge: it is richer for wildlife and still stays dense.

Field maple: when to prune it?

Pruning months: June–October.

When: Clip a hedge in late June and, if needed, late August. Prune a tree in summer or early autumn.

How:

• Tolerates hard pruning well, including as a pollard or pleached tree.
• Clip a hedge slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom, so the base gets light too.
• Train a young tree on a single trunk with a balanced crown.

Caution: Don’t prune in late winter or spring: a maple bleeds then. Check a hedge for nesting birds before you clip.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Sowing

Pick the winged fruits in autumn and sow them outdoors in a seedbed or pot; they often only germinate in the second spring.

Self-sown seedlings

There are often seedlings under an old tree: lift them in winter and plant them in your hedge.

Field maple: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• In winter a hedge is bare but densely branched; the corky ridges on the twigs stand out well then.

Diseases and pests

• Powdery mildew: White coating on the leaves in summer, especially on young leaves. Harmless to hedge and tree.
• Aphids: Sticky honeydew on the leaves in spring. Usually harmless: ladybirds and tits clear them up.
• Gall mites: Small red or green bumps on the leaves. Harmless: leave them.

Through the year

• January: Plant bare-root plants in mild weather.
• March: Last month for planting; compost under the hedge.
• May: Flowering; aphids attract ladybirds.
• June: Clip the hedge (late June), once no birds are nesting.
• July: Summer pruning of trees.
• August: Clip the hedge a second time if needed (late August); tree pruning possible.
• September: Tree pruning still possible; the winged fruits ripen.
• October: Golden-yellow autumn colour; last month for pruning trees.
• November: Planting season starts.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Excellent plant for hedges and hedgerows, and a small garden tree; golden-yellow autumn colour.

For wildlife

Flowers for bees; the aphids on it attract ladybirds.

Wood

Fine-grained wood for turning and carving.

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Ladybirds

Aphids on the plant are food for ladybirds and their larvae.

Hoverflies

Open flowers for hoverflies; many of their larvae eat aphids.

Caterpillars

Host plant: caterpillars of butterflies or moths eat the leaves.

Did you know?

• Turns a beautiful golden yellow in autumn and makes an ideal hedging plant.
• The fine-grained wood is used for turning and carving.
• Snap a leaf stalk and white milky sap comes out, as in Norway maple; not in sycamore.
• Its Dutch name contains ‘aak’, an old word for maple; the species name campestre means ‘of the fields’.
• In Flanders and the Netherlands field maple is the only native maple. Sycamore and Norway maple were introduced there by people.