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Is my Japanese Red Maple dead?

17 years ago

Kentucky had a week of warm weather and stimulated spring growth in many trees and plants. This warm weather was followed by a few weeks of freezing temperatures and now we are experiencing spring weather again. My Red Maple sprouted all of its beautiful leaves, which consequently shriveled up and died during the freeze. Is this an indication that the tree died? If not, is there anything I can do for it now? This tree is approximately 10 years old - and so beautiful. Can it be saved?

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Comments (2)

ewrightb
17 years ago
I am no expert, but the very same thing happened here, and both my JM trees had the new tips injured by the freeze we had after those temps in the 80's.

Both came back, so I'd not worry too much. It should not literally kill the whole tree, but just killed off the new growth present at the time. Once temps stabilize again you should see new growth.
Dibbit
17 years ago
Wait a bit longer - the damage to various JMs around here went from a few injured leaves to complete defoliation, depending on the tree and the location. Some have begun to grow new leaves and some are still sitting there.

As long as the cambium - the layer right under the bark - is still green when you scratch lightly on a twig, the tree is alive. You may have some tip die-back to trim off, but the tree itself should be fine. Most trees have auxilliary buds; they will grow and leaf out soon. Wait until the leaves are clearly growing before you do any trimming, and be careful of the emerging leaves. Resist the temptation to clean off the old leaves, unless you did it straight away - you might damage the emerging buds. Water the tree well, but don't drown it, as JMs don't like standing in water. And don't fertilize until the tree has almost all the leaves out, and then lightly with a slow release fertilizer.
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I'm in zone 6 for those who wondered... I'd never had issues with my potted maples before...and this was my first year that I even wrapped the pot with leaves, bubble wrap and burlap for the winter months. Guess that may not have been enough with this prolonged winter.... ;-( Also my plant is on an (elevated) balcony which only exacerbates any cold conditions... There's no last ditch effort I could try...maybe like 'pruning' all the branches just above a 'knob', to see if it stimulates some new growth? I suppose I could also try to scrape the bark a bit and see if I see any green underneath? And if I WERE to see green underneath, but yet still no new buds, then would conclusion could be made then? Tx!!
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Doesn't look very good at all. Can you detect any buds on the stems? If the tree is alive and even moderately healthy, you should see next season's leaf buds forming on the all the terminal stems and twigs. btw, you might want to post more plant specific questions - like this maple query - on other forums, as this one is extremely quiet and seldom gets much action. The Maples forum is pretty lively in comparison :-) This forum is more suited to issues regarding the philosophy behind Japanese gardens and their design than specific plant questions.
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