In a normal acclimation process, some indoor plants can be expected to lose some leaves, but it should not be excessive. Some acclimation difficulty could be considered normal. However, if you have done you're homework....then you'll do the very best you can to position any new plant in the best location possible. It's really not a waiting game. You're the one in charge. If you have placed the new plants in a location that does not provide enough sunlight, you will see some foliage drop fairly soon. But as the weeks and months go by, your plant will become leggy, lank, and obviously unhappy. If you place a low-light plant in full sun, it will burn in a few hours. If you proceed to over water your plant from the moment you get it home, it will lose some leaves, yellow, and perhaps develop root rot and die.

I see that censorship is alive and well on the Gardenweb. I've seen a lot of Japanese maples in my life and I've seen many with multiple branches low on the trunk but never one that has several trunks coming out of the ground like in the photos that Dave posted. It truly does look like a shrub. That look is not my cup of tea for a Japanese maple. If I want something that looks like a lilic then I'll go buy the lilac. IMHO, the Burgandy Lace was not pruned properly when it was younger although that it strictly from a viewpoint of aesthetics and not structural abnormalities. Looking at it's branching structure, I don't see any branches that resemble the acute angle on the maple in this thread. I still maintain that the latter needs a pruning job to correct for a structural defect. A tree that gets this large is going to act like a sail. Consequently, the wind is going to get leverage on any tall trunks that branch low on the tree. I am not saying that a Japanese maple needs to be pruned to look like an oak tree or any other really large tree. What I am saying is that sound pruning practices are applicable for any plants above a certain size. It is irresponsible and amateurish to suggest otherwise. It is also hypocritical to suggest this for some trees but not others not to mention confusing for anyone new to the Gardenweb. I must respond to one of the deleted posts. Basically, it was stated that this tree will not recover and fill out from pruning off the second leader. K4 hit the nail on the head in his response which was that the tree will throw out a lot of new growth next year after this leader is pruned off. This new growth will provide plenty of opportunity to shape the tree into a far better look than it has now. Without question, the tree will quickly fill out and I question the practical experience of anyone who states otherwise.

We checked the box and the nest was flattened completely. We had gone out to purchase and prepare a new bluebird box and a new post as the old one was warping. We removed the old nest and took out the pool and house to dig a deeper hole for the new house. The parent stood by the entire time we did this. There were no babies left in the box, however, at the very bottom of the nest we did find one egg that did not hatch. We don't think this is why the parents kept coming back. We do think they just wanted to keep a claim on the box. Well, within two minutes (before we even got back to our house) the male flew back to the new house and both parents have been flying back and forth for the last four days. The male keeps looking inside the box and if any other bird attempts to come near, they are quickly chased away by the male. We are anxiously awaiting for them to start building their new nest. They may be still feeding their babies who should be pretty well on their own by now. It was interesting how they watched us as we installed their "new house" and immediately returned to it. I'll keep you posted and hopefully building will begin soon. We saw them do this before they built their last nest. It took days for them to actually start building. We checked and checked and finally started to see the female bringing in nesting material. Hope it happens soon. It has been very hot here - temperatures around 90 and above. Lots of baby cardinals, bluejayss, etc. coming around our feeders near our house. Everyone is quite busy! And the babies are quite insistent on being fed even though some are a large as their parents.

These cute little birds are growing so quickly! My concern is that another poster said that they return to the same nest, after fledging, to live for the next few months. Do you think that they will be able to safely find another place to live if we have to take down their nest, for our house project, after they have the ability to fly? Thanks to anyone who can help us make the right decisions!