I don't have any expert advice for you, but I just wanted to say I feel really bad for you. I can just imagine her spraying the Roundup like she was putting out a fire. Roundup and weeds are all she knows. I love my trees. I've lived with them for many years and have an emotional attachment to them. As far as dealing with her - find out what the laws are first. Then read her the riot act, calmly but assertively, and tell her what the law requires. (Maybe give her a photocopy or a phone number to call if she has questions.) Give her a deadline to make the corrections, and tell her you will take further action with an impartial third party if she does not do so. If she makes any remarks other than "I'll take care of it immediately!" then just tell her clearly that she does not understand how serious a matter this is, and that her actions are a clear-cut violation of your property rights. The longer she ignores it, and the condition of your property continues to deteriorates, the more difficult it will be for her to resolve financially. If she gives you a hard time, tell her that her attitude is unacceptable, and forces you to put the matter into the hands of a third party immediately. And follow through, of course. This approach has worked for me, and I have never had to take legal recourse, because my no-nonsense attitude gets their attention. It is also civil discourse, and there have never been left over bad feelings. Good that she is moving, but you need to think and quickly if you want her to correct the damage that has been done, that you can at this point document, before she is gone and can ignore you. Good luck. Stick up for your trees!

That would be 'Oshio-beni' and it is a small shrub-like tree with a rounded canopy and a very low branching habit. Removing the lower branches to create a more "tree-like" appearance would NOT enhance the appearance of this particular maple cultivar, IMO. Exposure to the late freeze a large part of this country experienced around Easter could have had a pretty detrimental affect on this tree.......I'm not surprised the nursery was offering it at a bargain price. That plus its age and very mature size makes it a risky candidate for a 100% successful transplanting. I hope you got some sort of guarantee, as $1000 is a lot of cash to layout for what may best be a 50-50 proposition. If the so-called 'dead' twigs or stems are a pale or silvery gray, then they are indeed most likely dead. This can be confirmed by bending the twigs - if they snap cleanly and with a dry, tannish interior, they are dead wood. Also, viable twigs and stems will have distinct buds on them. Rubbing off a couple of buds will expose the interior, which should be succulent rather than dry and brown. All dead wood can/should be removed and there is really no restriction as to when this can be done. Other pruning (which I don't recommend for this cultivar) should wait until December or January when the tree is fully dormant but before the sap starts moving. My final suggestion is if you have never pruned a tree before, a Japanese maple of this age, size and potential value is not a place to start :-) Hire a professional or take some classes, preferrably those that emphasize Japanese maples, and from a very well-qualified instructor. As a 20 year nurseryperson and landscape professional, I've seen more trees and shrubs mangled - often beyond redemption - by well-intentioned but uninformed homeowners who do not understand how, when and why to prune. Know what you are doing before you start or leave it to the professionals.

Jo, I "think" I see buds on the tree. Reason for the quotation marks is it's just a bit blurry to my eyes, but it does appear there are viable buds on the plant. where in creation are you? And are other maples greening out in your area? It's been a cool/ fairly dry spring where I happen to live, and that's not conducive to rapid greening out of plants. Give it time. Also realize, a tree in a container is under constant stress. That's just not a good growing environment. Not saying don't do it-I'm sure you've got your reasons-but do be aware, plants are typically somewhat stunted by such growing conditions as found in a pot.

thanks for your reply. for some reason I can't upload any images. but the questions you asked pointed me toward a fix. I'm located in Sydney NSW, we had wet and not so warm summer this year. the plants were planted in small containers in seed raising soil with not many drain holes! since then after removing some of them for inspection I realized there weren't any roots and the soil was soggy and wet all the time!!! lots of root rot and smell bad! I removed all the soil and mixed them with %60 woody and chunkey orchid mix for better aeration and drilled lots of holes on the containers (i used empty Coca-Cola can for the containers) since then they revived despite 4 weeks of constant rain and cold temperature. some of them were reduced to 1 thin trunk and since then they produced some buds and leaves!!! I think the root rot cause them to become very weak and then attacked by fungi and probably bugs... I try to upload some photos later. thanks again