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New Japanese Maple Dying

18 years ago

I bought a small Lace Leaf Japanese Maple about a month ago. It looked nice and healthy, I brought it home, transplanted it into a larger pot, left it outside. In the last week the leaves have all started to shrivel and dry up. The weather has been cool but certainly not freezing, it was very rainy for about a week, although the maple doesn't seem to be overly wet. My concern is prehaps the potting soil was to rich? Does anyone have an opinion, any likehood of recovery? Could direct sun be that traumatizing? Last one I lost to deer and weedeater damage, I was trying to baby this one by keeping it in a pot??

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Comments (5)

Ron_B
18 years ago
Probably a fungus problem, rather prevalent with these.
Layne_Uyeno
18 years ago
Hi,

If your maple was kept in a shaded area at the nursery and then you brought it home and placed it in a place that got more direct sun it could have caused the damage. Plants are like us in that if we stay in the office during the week and then decide to go to the beach we'd sunburn. Same with plants. Whenever you decide to move your plant from a shady area to an area that get more direct sunlight you need to do it gradually.

I don't think your problem would be root rot from too much water. It takes a while for something like this to manifest itself. It could be what I mentioned above or it could be from too little water. Remember Japanese maples like a regular watering schedule with moist, but not wet soil. It may have been from fertilizer burn, but you'd really have to over do it with organic ferts., but it doesn't take much with chemical ferts high in nitrogen. Maples aren't heavy feeders so go easy on the fertilizer. I use liquid organic ferts for my potted maples and use only 1/4 to 1/2 the dosage every other watering or so.

Layne
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Marion: I can't imagine why the nursery advised you to water your maple every day. Roots need air as well as water, and the roots of a Japanese maple will start to die if they are sitting in soggy compost. Also, overpotting (moving a plant into a pot that's more than a size or two larger than the one it was in) can result in the roots being in contact with a mass of stagnant compost, which in turn can result in plant death (I have killed off a couple of acers myself, over a period of two years or so, by overpotting). I would hold off on the watering. In cases where the plant is of manageable size, it would be a good idea to tip it out of its pot to examine the roots (if they are brown and mushy, or breaking off, then they are dead), and maybe repot into a smaller container. However, by your comment about its cost, I'm assuming it's pretty big and this course of action isn't an option! Sandie: Japanese maples have quite delicate leaves that can get burned in hot sun (some varieties will suffer badly, others much less so). Could you perhaps provide some temporary shade to keep the worst of the sun off it? Also, if the area where it is planted is dry, it may benefit from supplementary watering. Hope this helps.
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jenf
Original Author
18 years ago
Well, I guess perhaps the sudden heat wave we had might have done it. What are others experiences of recovery? It's not looking good right now. Thanks for your responses.
ckramos
18 years ago
"Could direct sun be that traumatizing?"

--> yes
mendocinomaples
18 years ago
If your plant has been traumatized by heat see if the leaves fall off freely and easily and the buds are plump underneath the ends of the petiole...that is a good sign for chance of recovery...if the leaves are "stuck" onto the plant....then recovery is slim.

robert

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