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Why don't my Japanese Maples have all their leaves?

17 years ago

The leaves on 2 of my Japanes maples are just coming in. There is a whole section on each tree where there are no leaves. I've never seen this before. One maple is 4 years old and has been very vigorous in the past. The other maple is 2 years old. The maples are in completely different parts of my garden. The one gets morning sun and the other gets afternoon sun.

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Comments (5)

mjsee
17 years ago
Did y'all suffer with the Easter freeze? Lots of trees in my yard lost leaves on specific branches...but not on others. It was weird. I covered both my 'Waterfall' and my 'Aconitifolium'. 'Waterfall' came through unscathed, but the 'Aconitifolium' has what appears to be pretty severe frost damage on the trunk. (or damage from some unknown critter.) 'Aconitifolium' is sited higher up...may have had somehting to do with the damage.

Just a thought.
mattlwfowler
17 years ago
Sounds like freeze damage to me...probably due to tissue damage below the bark. The tree should survive, but you may have lost those damaged limbs.
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Many large sorta hardy Japanese maples suffered greatly in zone six st louis. We saw our -10 I believe and were steady cold most of January. Not unheard of but even trees right up next to houses have severe die back. I am trying to notice if I see any wounds or other signs of long term problems on these trees. Something is in my head like "a healthy japanese maple is zone six hardy. Take away some hitpoints with drought or a wound and it is only zone seven hardy." I know my nyssa sylvatica transplants are zone six hardy now but that first winter after transplant everyone has suffered. Salt and de icer are other possible suspects...... Oh, I have a dogwood and three hollies which looked dead three weeks ago. Two are showing a few leaves. Not sure if your tree will do the same. Many of the dead looking Japanese maples around here have SOME new foliage by now.
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@Bayarea_girl z9ca I have a JM on my front yard that's upright and stands at about 15ft plus tall. The leaves on my JM don't turn green and stay red all year round. Even if it's extremely hot abd sunny in the Summer it just turns into a darker red like more of a purple/wine coloured shade of red instead of it "Bronzing out" like @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) said. I'm not sure what type of JM i have but through the seasons i know my JM turns into a really super bright almost neon red in the Spring, then during the Summer it turns into a purplish/wine coloured red, in the Autumn/Fall it changes to a brighter blood red color until the Winter time when it turns into a darker burgundy colored red four like a week then all the leaves fall off.
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Comments (1)
Has it always been that way, or just recently? I guess since the tree is 100 yrs old you have no idea if it is a seedling or a cultivar (most likely just a seedling). The next question would be what kind of maple is it? There are many kinds of maples and they all don't have the beautiful fall colors. Norway and Silver maples come to mind as two with somewhat dull fall color (yellows and browns). The sugar maple is known to have the best fall color (blends of yellow, orange and red), and "red maples" are quite nice also (usually deeper red and less orange with no yellow). But having said that, all trees will vary in color. Especially seedlings, or trees grown from seed as opposed to grafted cultivars often have very different characteristics from one tree to another. I had a small sugar maple seedling that had fall color just like yours, mostly dull yellow and brown and the leaves stayed on well into winter. I finally removed it and planted a named cultivar (Green mountain) that looks alot better. I don't think the pine has much to do with it. If you could post a couple photos of the tree and close-ups of the leaves someone could identify it quite readily.
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Comments (10)
If this was its first winter, then I suspect the culprit is cold damage. You are located in an area where Japanese maples are of borderline winter hardiness, you experienced what is the equivalent of a zone 4 winter this past season and Shishigashira is not considered to be as cold tolerant as some other JM's. Most authorities only list it to zone 6. I also have some concern about the planter box. In the last photo, it looks like the planter is resting on heavy duty landscape fabric and not in direct contact with the underlying soil. Is this why the tree was planted high? Not enough depth for the rootball? And no winter mulch? This definitely could have been a contributing factor. Need more details on the planter itself before suggesting whether replanting another tree makes sense.
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rcongdon
17 years ago
I've had the same problem with my Crimson Queen and Viridis--some branches with no leaves and overall, not as full as they have been in the past. I'm sure it's due to the streak of weather in the teens and inches of snow we experienced last month--here in Michigan it was in the low 80's one day and in the 20's a couple of days later. The Crimson Queen is starting to put out some leaves on a couple of branches that had no growth on them. They both were just starting to get buds when the big freeze came. I think they'll be okay and will get some more leaves as the season goes on, just won't look as good as previous years in this one.
carolgate
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the info. It seems as though it must have been the warming and freezing weather. We really had a weird winter and early spring in NJ. I hope the branches don't completely die. It took five years just to get my Crimson Queen to about 5 feet. It was beautiful last year. I wish I knew how to show you a picture of it.
mary06
17 years ago
I am very worried about my Japanese maple , it is about 90 years old , and this year only about 1/3 of the branches have leaves.

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