what kind of tree is this?

[brandy]

ok ben brought home a sapling from the forest that the rangers gave him on his school trip. but im not sure about what it is! can anyone tell me? thank you!!
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/brandy28655/20100701_11.jpg

[Scunner]

Its a sycamore - lots and lots of seedlings around this year -

[davem]

Might be field maple.
Grows well up here.
I think sycamore leaves are pointier.

[fotcom]

Looks like a Sycamore to me too.

[puffin croft]

if anyone knows fotcom will know! believe him!!

[Leanne]

Looks like a sycamore to me too. Non-native plant that normally rangers would pull up... So maybe it isn't sycamore? If it is sycamore burn it! They're taking over all of our natives just like the grey squirrels have :(

Edit - there's that few trees in the county that if you are going to plant one, plant one that is worthwhile :)

[ducati]

Looks like a sycamore to me too. Non-native plant that normally rangers would pull up... So maybe it isn't sycamore? If it is sycamore burn it! They're taking over all of our natives just like the grey squirrels have :(

Edit - there's that few trees in the county that if you are going to plant one, plant one that is worthwhile :)

I thought Sycamores were native-so does Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore

I have a 100 year old one in the Garden :eek:

[brandy]

now heres another questions.. how long do i keep it potted before i transfer it to the ground? and what time of year should i plant it? i read its pretty hardy and can survive salt, poor soil and wind.. so all great to have here!
but its so tiny an no way would it survive in my garden right now! it would get stomped or eaten .. how fast do they grow, and anything i should know to keep it healthy?
gonna try to grow it with ben, i think it can be a project for us! if i can keep it alive and healty it can be Bens tree!

[ducati]

Bury it in the garden and just try to stop it growing :lol:

[porshiepoo]

Sycamores are pretty darn hard to kill so just plant it and it'll romp away.
We have them growing like weeds on our land.
I even accidentally bought a seedling up from our house in England. It must have settled in the Leycesteria I dug up to bring here and I've tried for nigh on 6 years to prevent the damn thing from coming up without actually killing off the Leycesteria in the process. No such luck it still keeps on sprouting back!

Davem: Think you may have that the wrong way round lol. Maples have pointier leaves than Sycamore.

[porshiepoo]

now heres another questions.. how long do i keep it potted before i transfer it to the ground? and what time of year should i plant it? i read its pretty hardy and can survive salt, poor soil and wind.. so all great to have here!
but its so tiny an no way would it survive in my garden right now! it would get stomped or eaten .. how fast do they grow, and anything i should know to keep it healthy?
gonna try to grow it with ben, i think it can be a project for us! if i can keep it alive and healty it can be Bens tree!

Honestly don't worry about it so much.
I'd be most suprised if you manage to kill it. lol. They have to be one of the most resilient trees going and I've relocated them many many times. I'm not one for doing it at certain times of the year either - I plant when I plant and they have 2 choices, live or die! Having said that, I've never managed to kill a Sycamore yet despite attempts to do just that.

You could plant it out now if you wanted to and just keep an eye on it. Water it untill it get established and then just leave it alone. Or you could wait till Autumn and plant it out, it'll go into dormancy and you may think it's died but it'll soon shoot back next year.

I've left many trees in pots over winter and despite them being frozen to a degree that would kill off most plants, trees seem to be altogether different. Sycamore, Ash, Birch and even Rhus seem to survive their frozen pots.

Personally I'd plant it out now.

By the way they grow quite quickly!

[Leanne]

I thought Sycamores were native-so does Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore

I have a 100 year old one in the Garden :eek:

I've had a look at the pic again and you could be right - it may be a european one. The American ones (which are very common) seem to have pointier leaves.

Where I used to live (and in quite a lot of England) most of the sycamores are American ones and the European ones are much rarer. We used to do sycamore pulls in the local woodland, organised through school and the local forestry commission, to clear space for native saplings to flourish.

I've got a giant sycamore too - not sure how old it is but the saplings do grow like weeds :(

[ducati]

I did the three gardens visits around Dunnet a couple of weeks ago and a lot of the owners recommended them for windbreaking (I was going to put that the other way round :eek:)