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Maple Leaves wilted after late freeze

stuartlawrence (7b L.I. NY)

8 years ago

Hey guys,

We had warmer than normal temperatures in march and 2 of my young maples in containers budded early and grew leaves recently. Unfortunately we just got hit with a freeze and the temperature dropped to 27 degrees last night. The leaves on my 2 maples have wilted. Do you think the trees have died? Will they grow new leaves?

Any help is greatly appreciated

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Comments (3)

Maplesthebest
8 years ago
I doubt they have died. Heat is more an enemy to japanese maples than cold. I am certain they will regrow their leaves.
jalcon
8 years ago
They'll probably be fine, they have the ability to put out another set of leaves. With that said, if it's going to get down that low again, bring them inside.

This year will be tough on a lot of trees, as 1.) We had a record warm March, so everything is further along than it should be right now, and 2.) They are forecasting record lows for many areas this coming Saturday. I know some of my Japanese Maples' leaves are wilted and black because of a few cold nights already. I plan on covering them with a frost blanket this weekend to try and prevent any additional damage. We'll see if it helps.
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I will pay attention to the soil more than just watering it on a schedule-my soil isn't clay and I didn't plant it so I'm unsure if an amending hole was done. The wind has been crazy here for the last two weeks, so yes with the rain has come some powerful winds (hailed once too) plus I'm in a new housing development so there isn't much blockage right now. It leafed out great, I thought yeah I'm a good green thumb for a first timer, and then it rained and froze one night, but I was unsure about that being the problem. All my neighbors trees don't look like this so I thought I did something to,cause it. The trunk is bound to a bamboo stick, and if can tell you it's needed-the tree would have broke without it bc of the crazy wind. Thanks for your help on this-not sure what to do :)
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Hello, tennesseestorm. I really doubt that you have done anything serious. The leaves could be responding to the shock of changing lighting conditions (normal to dark, then dark back to normal). Except for the really dark areas, I actually prefer the look of the leaves in the latest photo because the leaves look a nice dark green. The leaves in the first photo look too greenish-yellowish. In some you can see the veins (indicating a Ph Problem) while, in others, the leaf was starting to yellow out like it does when the plant gets too much sun. So for now, I would just: (1) keep an eye on the leaves, (2) monitor the Ph Level (once) too see if it is somewhere below 7 and (3) make sure that the plant is getting part shade, morning sun (that means around 3-4 hours of sun). Other than that, it looks great to me, tennesseestorm. Luis
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If you have new growth on the rest of the trees, and if the dead leaves/twigs/branches are very noticeable, AND are reachable, then I would take them off. If, since 18' is quite tall, you can't really get to them, you can either pay an arborist/tree service to come in with ladders or equipment and tidy them up, or just ignore them for this year. By next year, unless it was LOTS of die-back, the trees' new growth should make the dead bits virtually unnoticeable, and they may fall off over the winter. That supposes that it's only a minor dieing back. If it was major, then yes, it probably does need to be tidied off the trees. If you opt for someone to come in, look carefully, get references, and check them. There are too many "tree services" out there who can cut down a tree, or, worst of all, top one for you, but doing careful, remedial pruning does take some skill. That being the case, it might also be costly.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
8 years ago
Japanese maples are capable of a couple of flushes of foliage although it is not necessarily to their advantage to have to experience multiple flushes in a single season. And late frosts can be very damaging to JM's, especially those in containers. I recall a couple of years ago when much of the eastern half of the country experienced an Eastertime hard freeze and the reports of stem dieback or even tree death as a result were numerous. Light frost are tolerable once the trees have emerged from dormancy - hard freezes not so good.

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