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Japanese Maple - did I kill it?

16 years ago

I planted a Bloodgood back in early Spring. It looked great until I missed watering it for two days. Virtually all the leaves wilted, turned brown and fell off. However, after a few weeks, tiny red buds began appearing and it leafed out again. Now, the leaves are wilting within days. I love this tree, but it has me baffled.

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Comments (4)

lbrazil
16 years ago
Kinda funny. My name is also larryb. I also live in Miss.Bloodgood is a very hardy japanese maple. I have lots of maples including bloodgood. I think you over watered in a place that is not well drained. It has been really dry and hot here and easy to kill things. Thanks Larry
myersphcf
16 years ago
I have found that many new trees will loose their primary leaves from transplant shock or too much sun after being under shade cloth... MOST trees in summer or even spring in HOT areas are under shade closth before you get them... if you mail order that is one of the things you need to ask!!! Or it could just be lack of water during the hot summer months (the first year).. Then when they rebud and shoot secondaies they are so fragile and thin the sun blasts them... some should make it but will probably be sparce and deformed...that is my experience even up here.If it had leaves for lets say 3 months ( a guess btw) it should have stored enough energy to get it through til spring especially down there...and should be fine til next spring. If it is overwatered which I doubt but possible then it could be a more fatal thing causing root rot or crown damage...But I'd bet it is the former. David
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David, Thanks for your positive response! No, I'm not picky but paranoid a bit after reading all the do's and don'ts of trimming, pruning, etc. on this website. After my husband and I did yard work for her in PA (we live in Jersey - 2hr drive) for almost five hours only for her son being the lard ass do nothing but go fishing person that he is - commented the next day on how more could have been taken from the bottom, I needed the opinion of someone who actually knows how it should be done. Then reading bits and pieces on this website I didn't know what to make of it. The only green thumb I have is when I chop basil for hours . . . (I had visions of this tree standing on its last branch when I go out there again in a few weeks waving its last red leaf at me saying "I knew you had it in for me". . - and, no I'm not crazy. I'm the only sane one in the family on the East Coast, my cousin is the only one on the West Coast.) Again, thanks! I have some piece of mind now. Cathy
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Thank you, Leslie! Stephen, I'm retired and most of my spare time is spent working in the garden. Not all ten acres is worked on. Some of it is left natural with a minimum of interference. Most of my work in the garden is maintenance even though I've tried to keep that to a minimum. I don't grow anything I would have to spray to keep it healthy. Nothing that self seeds to the point it's a pain. The only plant I shear is the Crocagator and I'm usually behind on that. I don't even grow any trees with large leaves I have to rake up. Small leaves are absorbed by the groundcovers or chewed up by the lawnmower. My lawn has been reduced to the size of the average living room. A certified arborist drops his chips off here and I use them as much as I have time for. My wheelbarrow has more miles on it than my truck and my tiller has more miles on it than my lawnmower. I am landscaping a new area of about 6000 sq. ft. and should have it done by this Fall. There's a lot of prep work involved consisting of stumps, old logs, roots, rocks, grade change, and blackberries. Water is available and the rock wall is finished. The work is going smoothly, albeit slower than I'd like. At 72, I'm slowing down a bit. That, and my wife keeps dragging me away on vacation. The work is fun and it keeps me young. If I had stayed behind a desk at Boeing, I'd be dead by now. Mike
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myersphcf
16 years ago
OOPS I reread your post... ignore the shade cloth comment but it is something folks buying JM's in summer should be aware of...The rest of my post I stand by. The results of leaf loss , re- leafing, and new leaf shriveling would be the same for shade cloth or general transplant shock or as in your case likely hot lack of water condition ... again I must read more carefully !!!! David
ginag_2010
13 years ago
Can a bloodgood shrivel up from too much rain? I have had one for about 3 years and it has been perfect, but after 3 days of off and on rain, it has started to wilt/shrivel. it is dead? or will it rebud?

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