Advice Please!

[oej2082]

I know nothing about trees and would appreciate some advice.

 

I planted a beautiful Acer Brilliant in 2007 - this was advertised as a small tree growing to no more than about 10 feet.

 

About two years after planting a new branch started to sprout about 2 feet from the bottom. By 2011 the 'branch' was about 3 inches thick and was about 10 tall.

 

This year, 2014, the top of this thing is level with the second floor of the house. The original Acer seems quite happy and looks fine, if a bit overwhelmed. This summer, the intruder sprouted syacamore seeds, so it's safe to say a syacamore tree has sprouted from my Acer. (How?!)

 

Questions:

 

1 How big will this thing grow?

2 Can I/should safely lop bits off its branches to restrict growth- my garden is fairly small?

3 Could I safely cut it off at the stem, or will my Acer die?

4 Any other advice gratefully accepted!

 

Thanks

[Stubby]

Sycamore is an Acer , Acer Psudoplotanus I think . Maybe the Acer Brilliant was grafted on to Sycamore root stock ? I belive your tree is a " cultivar " ......

Edited August 9, 2014 by Stubby

[Chris at eden]

Hi,

 

Your Acer is a cultivar (cultivated variety) of sycamore and its attractive foliage is caused by a virus. Additional to the foliage the virus makes the tree weaker and as such it will grow smaller hence what the garden centre said. These virus are pretty unstable and can begin to degrade and thus the tree loses its variegated look. If you ask most gardeners what is wrong with your tree this is what they will pit it down to. This is referred to as reversion. It is possible but I doubt this is the cause.

 

More likely the green bit that is growing out is a sucker from the root stock. As these cultivars are weaker than the naturally occurring varieties they have their tops grafted onto a normal root stock. Stronger roots then gives the top bit a boost. Another reason they do this is that you can't propagate a cultivar from seed with any success so they are done by grafting. Problem is you can get the suckers out of the rootstock and being stronger they swamp the tree you bought. They will also produce seed as per the rootstock. Best thing to do is cut them out and the earlier you do this the better. If you post a pic on here I can give you a better answer on the implications of cutting out and a definite diagnosis on the cause.

 

Hope this helps,

[oej2082]

Yep! Here is a photo from 2011.

[oej2082]

....and here it is today...

[woodyguy]

Brillianttisima often throws out non variegated branches which because they can photosynthesise more strongly grow better. Just cut off the green branch and you've got a tree again. In future do it when they're small and it will mess the tree up less.

[Chris at eden]

Its a sucker. Prune out the green, if you don't you will end up with a sycamore as the grafted bit gets shaded out.

[woodyguy]

Sorry but we're all spelling it wrong (including me),

it should be Brilliantissimum

[10 Bears]

Dont be shy, chop the top green out and the Brilliantissimum will flourish again.

 

Dont forget the roots have grown as big as the over story so will be able to compensate very quickly.

[oej2082]

Thanks, everybody. I'll get the saw out!