Looks like a good alternative would be this Redpointe but I can only find limited pictures and info on the web

www.redpointemaple.com

please share your experience with this tree.
I plant to get one this Spring as all nursery near where I live is sold out.

Note that 'Autumn Blaze' is not a red maple but Acer x freemanii, a hybrid between red and silver maple and generally considered to combine the best traits of both species.

Dax

As for AB, there is a large one in front of my office with a trunk around 15-18' diameter, and 40+feet that experienced the worst ice storm on record for mu location this past winter. It lost two branches about 2' in diameter. NO other damage. I have seen many claims about AB that have not been at all true in my location, and there are ALLOT of them about.

However if you do want a true red maple, how about one of the less common one like Brandywine, Burgundy Belle, Polara etc.

Marshall

In the many years that i have been working with the red maples and hybrids, it seems to me, in my area of the country - midwest - any young maple can be prone to trunk cracking. There have been literally thousands planted (particularly Red Sunset) in all sorts of sites. Stressed sites - strip malls, highway easements - seem to provoke the worst effects. I suppose that only makes a kind of sense - more reflected light and heat from a parking lot, for example, than from a homeowner's turf.

The notion that field production weed control may also contribute is very interesting - but who knows for sure?

Anyway, considering that there may be many, many factors involved suggests to me that there is no more concern with Autumn Blaze maples than with any other cultivar.

Now, as to the OP's question on Redpointe. As has been mentioned, this is yet another new red maple selection, not too many of them in the ground yet, certainly no long term evaluation is possible now. Frankly, I don't see all that much difference from other cultivars in the young nursery trees I get - and that is not unusual when dealing with young, juvenile trees.

The major thing I see with Redpointe - if you get one that Schmidt nursery grew, it is indeed extremely uniform and full. I mean, it's a real nice looking young tree. Is that its genetic growth characteristic, or the result of very good growing technique, or some of both? Beats me...

My advice? See what your local nursery has available next spring, see what looks good to you, see what seems to be growing well in your area.

brian

Appears to be too new on the market for that.

Dax