Dan said: "IME they definitely are prone to crisp up for several years before adapting to a more sunny location. In the majority of cases they survive. You should have been told that shade cloth helps, altho looks suboptimal. I've never known JMs to reject a watering, either unless their feet are constantly wet. No fertilizer. " Dan! You are the first person to agree with the info the nursery gave me - that this tree takes several years to get acclimated to full sun. Everyone else I've mentioned this to just says, "huh? Never heard of that before"... I feel better, it's a reputable nursery, and we are devout customers. I had thought it was better to move a tree during dormancy (under normal circumstances), but sounds like I should wait with this tree, verify there are no diseases present and that it's growing properly, and then move it. Our bigger reason for moving is to replace with an evergreen for privacy, but I'm assuming it will also enjoy the new location in partial shade. Regarding the tree watering, I should clarify. This is what the nursery told me - if you water the tree, and the water runs, so do you. If it soaks in, it needs water. I realize this is pretty basic advice, but I do recall reading these trees don't like too much water. The problem for me is that I have it wedged in a triangular space next to my driveway, and the other angle is next to a concrete walkway, and the other angle is a flagstone walkway, and has a rock border around the perimeter. So, not a lot of runoff from rain, not sure how deep the roots go, or the driveway for that matter, so not sure how much water it's getting with all surrounding concrete. Add to that, de-icer on the driveway in the winter though we do purchase 'plant friendly' de-icer and try not to snowblow on the tree area. And, full sun, with reflection off of the surrounding conrete. Nice tree though, hope we don't lose it. Bloodgood didn't do well for me, but I had it in mostly shade and probably didn't water enough back then when I was an absolute newbie.

Hi Dsqx, big transplant I would vote against trying to tilt this tree. If you must think of it as lifting up one end and shoving more dirt in on that side. No need to torture your back and your father's back again. Man, you two planted a 13' tall tree! Reasons against: -It is a tree, and a Japanese maple at that. It just is not going to grow straight as an arrow and Japanese maples have a bit of a unique form anyway. -As you noticed with all the damage last year, Emperor I and all JM's I know are only marginal in zone 5. Transplanting and digging up before winter stresses them further. I wonder if early spring would be better if you decide to do this. Maybe the high res picture will convince me otherwise. Maybe I am just sorta a hippie with a less formal landscape lol. Either way, good luck and I am impressed with the work you must have done planting it!

In reading comments here and at Daves Garden some folks say E1 are really hardy and others say they have not been successful with them. This may be because they didn't "really" buy an E1 ( disreputable dealers are NOT unknown). But my suspicion is has more WHERE the tree is planted ( protected from the cold winter winds and exposed too too much "winter" and it's age ( ie: a larger tree with a fully developed root system rather than a twig with 1 years grafted root system which is what mostr folks buy cuase they are CHEAPER) are probably more the key to E1's and many other alledgedly hardy JM's including supposedly hardy dissectums. And of course HOW bad the winter is . I don't think around here this years or last years winter would give us much insite into "winter hardiness" for zone 5 for most any cultivar. Lastly you are in zone 6 and if you have a problem with those that are" alledgedly zone 5 hardy it's most likely, as I said above, a placement problem ...David

I definitely agree that it needs water, and a few things to consider: 1) I planted a bloodgood that got hit by high winds -- a random event, but all the leaves looked like yours. This was back in June. The tree has replaced almost all of these with new leaves, so your tree will come back if it gets some water. 2) If your tree is in a windy spot, and it was wind that caused this, you may have to plant / create some kind of windblock 3) I have read that Japanese Maples can struggle with heat reflection, so if your tree is in full sun, all of those rocks under it are reflecting heat. So, if it is in full sun, it may be "cooking" from both sides. 4) In my experience, the best thing to do is leave the leaves as they are. The tree will take care of itself likely next spring and put on fresh leaves. 5) If you scratch the branches lightly with your fingernail, you will probably find that they are green where you scratch. This means your tree is not dead. If you scratch a branch and it is brown, that branch is dead / dying. 6) Finally, you want the original root ball to be consistently moist, but not wet. Don't arbitrarily water it everyday. Stick your finger in the root ball and see if it is at all dry -- if it is at all dry, then water. Overwatering is not good either and while it can be difficult to tell sometimes, you'll get the hang of it. Good luck