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Japanese Gardens Maples

Japanese maple leaves turning brown..

Home Sweet Home

4 years ago

My Japanese maple leaves have been turning brown. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade and I water it at least once a week or more when it hits the triple digits but it’s still turning brown. Any tips?

Location: Zone 9

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

4 years ago

There is a big difference between leaf scorch and dried, brown, dead foliage or leaf tips. One is water related and the other is sun/temperature related. Scorch typically shows up as a discoloration of the foliage (often with red or fall coloration) rather the dry, dead appearance as shown in the photo. That is a water issue.

btw, red laceleaf dissectums tend to be both very sun and heat tolerant and seldom scorch. ckerr, if yours has foliage similar to the OP's, I'd guess you are also experiencing a water issue....it can happen just as easily with inground trees but is very common with container grown JM's.

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Comments (7)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago
Irregular watering. Once a week is probably not enough water. I grow all my JM's in containers - most quite a bit larger than that - and they get watered 2-3 times a week. And we never hit triple digits!!

That is pretty characteristic of containerized JM's that have been allowed to dry excessively between waterings. The soil should stay consistently moist (not wet). I'd also consider the container too small for that size tree. And the smaller the container, the need for more frequent watering.
ckerr007
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Since it’s potted can you locate it somewhere where it gets mostly shade? It definitely looks like leaf scorch, GG is the expert but I suspect that even properly watered it will suffer some scorch like that if it’s exposed to 100 degree direct sun, morning or otherwise. Here in “cool” zone 5b an hour of direct afternoon sun regularly scorches some outer leaves on our in-ground Crimson Queen.
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8 minutes of water, even on a daily basis, is nowhere near a sufficient quantity for a tree of any significant size. All that does is tickle the surface of the soil. What you want to accomplish is to have the water penetrate the soil down to a depth of at least 8-10" and depending on soil conditions, that could take as long as 30-45 minutes. It is always far better for the plants to water deeply when necessary but not all that often. You may only need to water once or twice a week as long as the water is able to penetrate to a proper depth. Rather than your pop-up irrigation system, it would be preferable to use just the hose on a slow trickle at the root zone of the tree. You may have detected my displeasure with an automated irrigation system :-)) I detest these things!! They are fine for lawns (again, that few minutes daily routine is far from ideal) but they wreak havoc on trees and shrubs and not even great for many perennials. They are seldom ever programmed correctly and they tend to deliver water on the foliage, never a good thing. I would strongly urge you to have your automated system modified to accommodate drip emitters for any planting beds and then reprogram for an appropriate amount of time.
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Are you growing this inside? That is a problem. These are for growing outside. Other than that, maybe too much water is all I can think of. Or sometimes a JM will just die on you for an unknown reason. That happened to one of mine recently. Sorry I can't be more definitive.
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Because of the timing and circumstances surrounding this planting, I'd be very hesitant to immediately assume it was some sort of disease issue. We are more likely looking at transplant shock and an early dormancy, which can often be triggered by planting late in the season. Excessive rainfall during this period could certainly account for what you describe as well. Retaining dried, dead foliage is pretty common for this selection also. As long as the container is filled with a high quality, fast draining potting soil and offers adequate drainage, I'd wait until spring to see how these trees bud out before I'd do any thing else. They will probably be just fine.
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This is the story of all my maple cultivars. I've never had one hibernate gracefully. Being in Melbourne, I always just put it down to hot winds or long hot summers.
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Home Sweet Home
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you! I’ll definitely be watering more often now and moving my JM to a larger pot. Hope it helps!
mblan13
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I water if it doesn't rain for 2 or three days. If it does rain, I still water... Just to make sure ALL the soil is saturated! My JMs are in morning sun and afternoon sun. The cut leaf varieties seem to brown quicker, especially the Koto No Ito.
A J
4 years ago
Hi, Just tagging onto the thread as I have a similar issue. I have a Crimson Queen that was planted in the middle of summer which turned out to be a hot dry summer here. I have tried watering regularly every day or 2 at least. When it was first planted we had some windy days even tho the area is quite sheltered. Does this look like wind burn or not enough water?
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago
That's a water issue.

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