I have a Japanese red that has suddenly turned green. We rescued the tree from a big patch of large rhododendrons (it’s believed to be a “child” of a 27 year old tree next door and is about 8-9 ft tall, no idea of age.) I planted it in the corner of my specimen bamboo garden, isolated by a bottomless old trash can to keep out the bamboo. It is watered using a soaker hose buried under 3” of shredded/ground pine which also waters the bamboo. It was doing great until I fertilized using some Peters soluble mix using an injection system and the soaker hose. Is the fertilizer changing the color? Anything I can do or should I just leave it alone? We are in Hendersonville, NC. Tom B

1. Yes, this is true. It is also true that some red leaved cultivars will 'bronze' out in too much sun. Ideally, you will want to site just about any Japanese maple with morning sun/afternoon shade or filtered or dapped all day shade. All red leaved JM's will develop the best leaf color if they get at least a few hours of direct sunlight. 2. I would trust ONLY plants from known reputable growers and retailers of Japanese maples. And even then, there can be tagging or ID errors. Box stores buy in bulk from whatever vendor offers them the best deals. These are not always the most scrupulous of growers and have been known to sell seedling JM's by cultivar names - a HUGE no-no! Box stores also tend to have only the most common cultivars whereas independent garden centers that specialize in JM's will offer a very wide and high quality selection. It is a bit of a case of you get what you pay for :-)) 3. No. Trunk color has little to nothing to do with foliage color. btw, 'Tamukeyama' IS a cultivar. There is just one with that name and ALL Tamukeyama's should look the same.

There's a major mis-step in the process... Prior to doing the carpentry, the leaves on the scion need to be clipped off leaving about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of petiole. The understock can either keep its leaves or really it doesn't matter. It's common to chop a 3 foot tall understock down to one foot where no leaves are and graft your scion right to that. No problem there. It's more than ok to chop the understock way down so it isn't tall as well. The plants may be sealed with all of the above mentioned materials. (parafilm, bud stip, rubber band) The grafted plants need to be placed under a large tree so they receive minimal light. Perfect conditions are dappled light. Or you need to create this type of an environment. A camping tent will do the same work in a barn for example. The graft will only be successful if the petioles turn black, then fall off to expose a healthy bud that has pushed from below the petiole. Actually, summer grafting is 100% less work due to time involved. The new graft should be known to have been a success in approximately 10-14 days give or take a week. Also, do not water the understock prior to grafting. You want it almost dry but just a bit moist. Too much water and you have a dead scion. After the graft shows success, place it in full shade for the next two full years. And... when you place it into shade, give it one week of keeping the understock almost bone-dry again, but giving it just enough water to not allow it to die. This is MAJOR. After that week, you can water it as often as you like. Heavy amounts of water won't do any harm. You still won't know if the graft is successfull until the following spring. Careful overwintering surely plays its part in the process. Don't go over 50 degrees F and you'll have given them enough cold for any dormancy requirements. Grafting ends about August the first for Maples. (Mid July - Beginning of August) You can also graft Ginkgo the same above-mentioned way. Ginkgo has a longer time-frame allowing grafting to continue into September first. Here's a photo of some summer maple grafts... Dax

I dug a hole close to the trunk per your suggestion and found water 1 feet deep and lots of clay soil. It didn't rain recently - it must be drainage issue. Attaching picture. I went to the local nursery and based on their suggestion did the following 1. Added root strengthening solution - assuming transplant shock 2. Home depot person suggested using Vitamin B1 solution to help with stress 3. I also added peat moss and organic compost+ manure to the top layer As far as staking goes, it is one year old - i added it after my tree fell down during a storm. Looks like i need to drain properly and improve the soil - it will be a long battle I also have a new problem - bark is splitting - not sure if i should do something about it - any ideas are welcome. Thanks for all the responses. Adding picture of bark as well.