Where to Plant Blood Japanese Maples

Sunlight and Wind

• The "Bloodgood" Japanese maple will perform best, exhibiting superior leaf color throughout the entire growing season, in a site with partial sun or filtered shade. Intense sunlight can lighten the tree's leaf color. Too much light and drying or hot winds can also cause leaf scorch, which appears as brown or dried-out leaf margins or tattered or bronzed foliage; so, a somewhat sheltered position is ideal. However, good air circulation around the Japanese maple is also important.

Size Considerations

• The "Bloodgood" Japanese maple grows slowly and reaches a mature height of 15 to 25 feet with a mature spread of 10 to 25 feet. This relatively small size and slow growth make the "Bloodgood" Japanese maple appropriate for planting near patios or decks and even under utility lines. It is also potentially cultivated as a bonsai or container specimen and can grow well in an appropriately situated above-ground planter.

  The flowers and fruits of this Japanese maple are attractive but small and difficult to enjoy from a distance; cultivating the specimen near a walkway, porch or deck or window allows you to enjoy it to the fullest.

Soil

• The "Bloodgood" Japanese maple performs best in moist or average but well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter rich. Soggy soil often leads to disease problems and the plant will struggle in characteristically dry soils. Although the Japanese maple tolerates slightly alkaline soils, it prefers slightly acidic soils with a pH below 7. If you are unsure of the pH of the soil in the planting site, consider having the soil tested prior to planting the "Bloodgood" Japanese maple and work any recommended amendments into the soil.

Site Preparations

• Dig a planting hole two to three times wider than the Japanese maple's root mass and as deep as the root mass so that the maple will be positioned at the same depth at which it was previously growing. If soil in the planting site has poor drainage, is very sandy or lacks fertility, work at least 3 inches of an organic-matter soil amendment, such as well-rotted compost or aged manure, into an area that extends several feet beyond the planting hole. Added organic matter should make up no more than 20 percent of the amended soil in the planting site.

Additional Considerations

• If you are planting multiple "Bloodgood" Japanese maples as a row or border, space plants at least 36 to 60 inches apart.

  If you are planting this Japanese maple in a container or planter box, make sure that there are ample holes for drainage and choose a container a few inches larger than the tree's current growing container or root mass

  The Japanese maple will benefit greatly from a layer of organic material mulch about 3 inches thick spread evenly over the planting hole.