Looks correctly planted to me. Easy to plant trees too deep, almost impossible to plant them too high. I see trees along a stream near me that have the whole topmost root-crown exposed because of flood-erosion, but they are healthy as long as they don't get uprooted. Below is a weeping willow along my stream hanging on to a piece of bank. At one time there was a full soil-bank there where it was growing in.

looks spot on to me ...

nice lawn ... do not rely on lawn irrigation to properly water a tree ...

i presume its either bare.. or will be very soon ... its just going to have to take some faith and proper watering to believe it will bud out properly in spring ...

i doubt it matters.. but where are you.. big city name .. so we might advise about winter if necessary ... only thing that might come to mind is winter sun scald.. and whether to wrap it to avoid such ...

some mulch sure wouldnt hurt ...

ken

ps: i dont understand if the second pic is your tree or a representation ... did you bare root yours ...its not important it had been... but fantastic that you did look for the root flare ... and were proactive in that regard ... also.. perfect timing on planting ...

Thank you both for your replies, I feel much more confident now in the planting.

Ken I am near Grand Rapids, MI so zone 6A. I plan on covering it with mulch this morning thank you for the reminder! The leaves on the tree are turning a little yellow. Not sure if it is seasonal color change, stress, or overwatering. The second image is from an online source when I was researching root shanks

Not sure if it is seasonal color change, stress, or overwatering.

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aw come on... its mid october in MI ... they are yellow because of such.. dont overthink this ...

sure.. the stress may have sped it up... but the declination of the sun was the trigger ...

over watering it had nothing to do with it ...

have faith.. maple in MI ... its hard to lose with such ...

winter sun scald is possible.. and easy to avoid ...

paper wrap or a plastic thingee ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=suin+scald+tree+wrap&iax=images&ia=images

if deer are a potential issue.. and where arent they in MI ... this might work better depending on the diameter of the trunk:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=plastic+spiral+tree+wrap&t=ffsb&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

or 3 T posts with fishing line around them will also work ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=3+T+posts+with+fishing+line&ia=web

if you happen to have T posts laying around.. .lol ... and a post-pounder-inner .. lol

if you got any of the 9 inches of rain weve gotten in the last few weeks. the soil around the hole should be sodden ... did you notice when digging ... so if you watered it in properly at planting.. you should be all set until near july .. but check once a month.. in the root zone ... not just under the mulch ...

ken

Thanks again Ken, I will definitely look into the tree wrap today I did not know about sun scald!