Field maple is the quick-change artist among the maple species. At the heart of its versatility is its size. As its profile tells us, the height of an Acer campestre ranges from a petite 300 cm to a majestic 2000 cm. This range makes the Maßholder unpredictable for creative garden design at first glance. This guide explains how to easily control size and use it to your advantage.
Field maple can grow up to 20 meters high
The epitome of a hedge plant with a privacy factor
Field maple's rapid growth of up to 50 cm per year is limited to the youth phase. In the end, an Acer campestre can hardly assert itself against strong-growing competitors such as the beech in the forest. Therefore, a Maßholder usually thrives as a shrub. Only under ideal conditions and with a clearance of 5 meters does it develop into a solitary tree.
The clever growth strategy qualifies the field maple as the perfect candidate for an opaque hedge. Even impatient gardeners don't keep the deciduous shrub in suspense until it reaches the desired size. Thanks to a good-natured cut tolerance, you can regulate the height with scissors several times a year. That is how it goes:
- Main pruning: late winter during February and March
- Maintenance cut by a maximum of one third: shortly after St. John's Day at the end of June
- Shape cut for a well-groomed appearance in winter: shortly after the leaves fall in autumn
If you have intended the field maple to function as a solitaire, you should regularly prune the trunk in late winter and cut off competing shoots at the base. By nature, the tree strives for multi-stemmed growth, which makes training pruning necessary.
Famous field maple giants
Several giant trees bear witness to the impressive growth potential of a field maple. In the district of Bamberg there is a 28 meter high Maßholder in front of the forestry office in Ebrach. In Brandenburg near Buckow you can admire one of the highest Acer campestre in Europe, which stretches up to 31.7 meters into the sky.
tips
Did you know that the field maple served our ancestors as a food tree? The expert farmer's wife prepared the leaves like sauerkraut and served the spicy, sour dish with potatoes. A tea made from the fresh bark relieves gastrointestinal complaints. To describe the Maßholder as poisonous belongs in the land of fables.