The last four people from 2015: yes I still have Japanese Maples. I can't figure out how to use this site to reply back to you so please email me at trishinthegarden@sbcglobal.net. Lisa, I will email you. I probably got your emails but I didn't recognize the name houzz as the old gardenweb and deleted the messages without reading them first. Sorry!! Trish

Hi Kent, I am very interested in your Japanese maple seedlings. I am not sure what to offer you. I have lots of plants, and we have lots of oaks, and I have Harry Lauder's Walking stick, smoke Tree, Red bud, Vitex chaste tree,Royal Paulownie, Dog wood,and Mimosa tree, and others. Don't know if these will work for you.Also have a fig tree. djune/Donna

I examined the tree again last night. Those wilting leaves are definitely dead now, though those few healthy branches still seem to be hanging on OK. We haven't had any late frosts persay - nothing that has affected any other plants/trees in the yard. I don't think the leaves were sun-scorched, as the tree survived quite well in this location all throughout the hot/sunny summer and early fall last year. Overwatering could be a possibility; we have had a lot of rain lately. Would overwatering only kill off some of the leaves/stress out part of the tree though? Another possibility...? The maple didn't really lose its leaves last fall and in the winter we had an ice storm. Ice stuck to the dead leaves, weighing the tree down; for half a day it was literall bent in half with its top branch tips and leaves touching the ground. When it melted, the tree popped right back up again but most of the branches were left slightly curved in the direction the tree was bent. Looking at the branches last night, it seemed that all of those that still remained curved had the dead leaves. Those with straight stems/branches had healthy looking leaves. Is it possible that the tree is suffering from some sort of delayed stress reaction to the ice storm? As mentioned before, it looked great with all the new buds and fresh leaves in early spring...

Because of the timing and circumstances surrounding this planting, I'd be very hesitant to immediately assume it was some sort of disease issue. We are more likely looking at transplant shock and an early dormancy, which can often be triggered by planting late in the season. Excessive rainfall during this period could certainly account for what you describe as well. Retaining dried, dead foliage is pretty common for this selection also. As long as the container is filled with a high quality, fast draining potting soil and offers adequate drainage, I'd wait until spring to see how these trees bud out before I'd do any thing else. They will probably be just fine.