Leaves of Japanese Maple turning brown
raymondleung
9 years ago
The leaves of my Japanese Maple tree are turning brown. Any advice please ?
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Comments (6)
jean001a
9 years agoRelated Discussions
japanese Maple dried brown leaves??
Comments (3)It sounds like not enough water to me. Most people underwater their newly planted trees and have little idea how much water trees need to being with. When you water it every 2-3 days, how long are you watering it for? I have sandy loam gravely soil that drains really well and water my 6 foot maple trees 1200 gallons of water ( I know the gpi of my water pump) 2-3 times a week. I saturate the area around my tree. Within one minute of stopping the water all the water is already drained underneath. 2 years ago I planted some trees and watered 10 gallons 3 times a week like many people say, and every tree went into transplant shock, they all turned brown, lost all their leaves, leaves came back but went right into early fall foliage. So I said to heck with this and started watering based on what was right for our soil. I learned right away that what may be right for some soils is not at all right for others. These 3 maples I planted just this year have grown over a foot and a half, and are luscious and green, not a hint of shock to be found. The next day the soil doesn't even look like it's been watered at all. I guess it all depends on how well your soil drains but to me it sounds like you are not giving them enough water....See Morejapanese maple browning leaves, help!
Comments (1)Are you growing this inside? That is a problem. These are for growing outside. Other than that, maybe too much water is all I can think of. Or sometimes a JM will just die on you for an unknown reason. That happened to one of mine recently. Sorry I can't be more definitive....See MoreJapanese Maple brown leaves
Comments (4)Improper watering - it is very common for JM's to develop leaf spotting or brown edges if they are not getting the right irrigation. FWIW, automatic irrigation systems are seldom designed to provide adequate watering for established inground plantings. 10 minutes a day is not going to deliver enough water to the correct soil depth for these trees. Rather than the frequent light waterings - of the kind being offered now - opt for less frequent but longer and deeper watering. Depending on your location and weather conditions, once a week to 10 days (in my climate, I'd stretch that to every 10-14 days) for at least 30 to 40 minutes would be far more suitable. You want the water to penetrate down to the full depth of the root system - at least 10-12 inches. That is just not achieved in 10 minutes unless you are gardening in sand....See Morered Japanese maple leaves brown
Comments (7)Gotta be honest with you---if I'd known what I know. We've got full sun, we've got alkaline, clay, poorly-draining soil, we've got hard, mineral-heavy, alkaline water, we've got hot dry winds. We planted the tree mid-May of last year, right before it got hot, and way under-watered the tree (inexperience and ignorance on the part of my landscaper and myself). Instead of a nice, thick layer of rich, organic mulch, my landscaper covered the roots with a thick layer of DG right up to the trunk. Though his intentions were good, he buried a plastic pipe in the ground and stuck a drip emitter in it to "reach deep into the roots" and when I finally yanked it out it was clogged with soaking wet clay....This probably led to root rot which is why that branch, which faces South (i.e. the most stressful orientation of any branch) ended up somewhere between dead and severely weakened). So it cannot shade itself, and it cannot shade the soil which has Southern exposure. By all rights the little guy should have given up and croaked. But he's not doing too badly, except for that one branch. I am only half-joking when I tell him that I've got a nice crepe myrtle picked out if he doesn't make it, but I do have a lot of respect for his determination to survive. It goes against my basic philosophy of "if the plant doesn't make it in the location I will replace it with something more suitable". But I feel he's earned my best effort. By trade I am in the human medical field....a poorly-taught, required course in Botany decades ago made me lose all interest in gardening for a very long time. But now it truly fascinates me....See Moremikebotann
9 years agobartman43
9 years agoKayrenay1
9 years agoI've been trying to determine if this edge-browning of the leaves is natural for our maple. My BF says it is and "it's always done that," but I say there's something wrong with the tree. We live in the east Bay Area. Summers from 85-105 degrees daytime temps. The tree gets a good deal of afternoon sun moderated by the house right next door. I have the irrigation system set to water for 8 mins every morning before sun gets too high. The tree is surrounded by Heaven's Breath ground-cover. Is it too little water? Is the Heaven's Breath "stealing" the tree's water? (probably a silly question!) Or is it just too hot here?
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
9 years ago
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raymondleungOriginal Author