tx. just came back today to check and only now did I see your reply. why oh why did they move to Houzz? even though I'm set up for email reply notifications, I never got notified of your reply. argh. tx!

The old, dead leaves will fall off on their own as the new leaves push out. If you want to actually pull them off, be careful, as when I did this a few weeks ago, I accidentally also pulled off the new bud with the dead leaf. At that point I decided I'd best leave it all up to Mother Nature.

I did pull all the old leave off and didn't see any that were connected to new buds. As of today all I see are the usual dried out bud 'tips', but no actual indication of the start of any new leaf growth. Should I be concerned at this point? Note that it was also just two days ago that I removed the burlap and leaves in which I'd encased the pot itself during the winter months...so maybe it will just take a few more days for the plant to realize it's springtime? ;-) I also only started to actually 'water' the plant two days ago, and also sprayed it with diluted fish fertilizer... I also was sure to pull any mulch away from the base of the trunk so that it can breathe...

What zone are you in? You should be able to see buds swelling by now, I'd think. If you live in zone 5 or 4, leaving the tree in the pot over the winter outdoors might have killed your tree. Hold off on the water until you see some sort of growth.

Containerized Japanese maples will experience root damage at temps below 25F. And that low temperature is not uncommon in even quite warm zones (like mine), although it must be sustained for several days for the soil to freeze solidly.

If you are in a cold zone (below 7) or experienced the severe and prolonged cold many parts of the country did this winter, enough damage may have been done to kill your tree. Buds are formed in fall after leaf drop and should be quite visible at this time of year and starting to swell, if not opened already. If you don't see this happening, things don't look especially promising. Sorry.

I'm in zone 6 for those who wondered...

I'd never had issues with my potted maples before...and this was my first year that I even wrapped the pot with leaves, bubble wrap and burlap for the winter months. Guess that may not have been enough with this prolonged winter.... ;-( Also my plant is on an (elevated) balcony which only exacerbates any cold conditions... There's no last ditch effort I could try...maybe like 'pruning' all the branches just above a 'knob', to see if it stimulates some new growth? I suppose I could also try to scrape the bark a bit and see if I see any green underneath? And if I WERE to see green underneath, but yet still no new buds, then would conclusion could be made then? Tx!!

In zone 6. We have 8 small Japanese maples. There are no leaves on any of them! Never had a problem in the past. Some have been planted in same spot for more than 8 years. The newest have been in place for 2 years. Some are in more protected areas than others. All thrived even after the winter of 2013-14. Is it possible that all of them succumbed to winter 14-15? Everything else is growing like crazy.

I'm in zone 6a. Birds like to eat the buds on my trees over the winter. Maybe that's what happened to yours this year. But on my trees where birds had their lunch, the secondary set of buds has formed already and some are leafing out. Are your limbs brittle? Green underneath if you scrape a bit of bark?

Lynn, if you find green when scraping the bark, all you can do really is wait.