superficial cold damage ... just cold enough to pop a few cell walls ... individually freezing such ... but not cold enough to do substantial damage ... thats my best guess ... frankly i dont see damage on the right side ... been a long time since i reviewed al gritty mix ... but i am wondering if its tuned into trees specifically .... its good ... better than buying pre-made stuff ...... but you might think about cutting it by a third with mini bark chunks or something... trees like a cool sip of water.. and near total draining ... which means.. the pot .. before and after watering... barely changes weight .. if it gets heavy.. then it MIGHT be retaining too much water ... [but if al pops in.. i will defer to his experience regarding tree in particular] regardless... crikey.. its a maple.. most likely.. the only way to kill it.. would be to leave a black pot in full sun.. and not water it for the rest of the year ... and then it probably still wont die... lol... but it will root out the bottom.. to take care of itself ... lol.. ken

Thanks for answering, Ron B., I figured if anyone would know it would be you. I will definitely take care of it. I'm not sure if it would be much of an improvement on either tree. As far as I can tell they both have the same hardiness and growing requirements. The red in the leaves has faded to mostly green by mid summer just like the old Japanese maple I have. Are vine maples susceptible to all the same diseases as Japanese maples? If they aren't that could be a possible improvement.

I live in South Africa, with a temperature of between 61 - 93 Fahrenheit, or between 16 - 33 Celsius for summer. For winter 28 - 72 Fahrenheit, or between -2 - 22 Celsius. This is the second time that I've lost a Japanese Maple the first lack of light or to much water. This time around I planted in a spot that received sun between 11 and 3 o'clock and rest of the day shaded. It began to loose its leaves showing the typical water droplet on leaves burns that has been described on the forums. I addressed the watering from the sprinklers. Later it actively created new leaves, whereas other leaves were scorched basically green/brownish. As discussed before the tree was most-likely under extreme stress and needed saving. Unfortunately I best thought to replant the tree since it was not located in a pot. So I left it in my room with plenty of light then went away a few days. I left instructions for it to be watered twice a week if the soil is dry. Now I came back last night. I found no new sprouting leaves and the trunk is black with some green spots (original bark I presume). I was told the tree was covered with a white pest of some kind, and was thus cleaned with soap water. First question: Is the tree dead? Second: any general suggestions regarding the climate. Since the general solutions posted relates to 1)ensuring that the cultivar can cope with the climate and 2) planting it in positions that gets morning or later afternoon sun, thus filtered sun during noon. The Idea of the cultivar is lovely, I'd like to have some of those trees in the back yard. Provided I can get it growing.

First, I doubt you have a Bloodgood - the leaves are far too small/lobes too narrow, even on a young tree, for that cultivar. There are a lot JM's being sold as Bloodgood that are just seedling trees. That could account for the leaf aberration as well as the coloring. Bloogood is a very deep wine red color, although it can bronze up or lose some of its redness in full sun in hotter climates. But it should never have distinctly green leaves like what is showing in your photo. And no, it will not produce any more new leaves now. It is fall and the tree will be entering dormancy soon and dropping what remaining leaves it has. I hope you didn't pay much for it :-) It is in bad shape, suffered some serious drought stress and looks like it has some tip dieback as a result.....not to mention a good likelihood of labeling issues. Just get it planted and hope for the best in spring. btw, if you have more questions, it is advisable to start your own thread rather than tacking on to an old, stale one. And there is forum dedicated specifically to maples as well that will give you very precise JM advice.