Plants usually need an adjustment period after repots if root work was extensive. When potting up, usually there is little noticeable difference, just a temporary increase in vitality. Repot/root-pruning will cause the tree to sulk for awhile & the time period varies. (BTW, Acers tolerate total bare-rooting very well, so don't be reluctant to remove all the old soil from the root mass). Also, timing of the repot impacts recovery. Visible signs are temporary slowed or nonexistent growth, temporary loss of vitality, possible loss of some buds. I would tend to consider leaf burn a result of a root system that is yet unable to keep up with water demand put on the tree by other cultural conditions (wind, sun, high temps), or fertilizer salt issues. Also, cellular pH has the ultimate affect on color, but soil pH affects cellular pH to a certain degree. Couldn't guess at soil pH unless we know soil make-up. Do you know? I can tell you how to test container media pH if you wish to know & don't, but it will vary widely over time. If I remember, we had some off forum discussions about soils for your Acers? Are you the one that linked me to another forum site discussion about Acer nutrient preferences? If so, I was impressed by the knowledge of the posters. I have always found that the fast soils I grow in require more N than I would at first think. However, I also know that generous applications of N in containerized Acers can bring about some unwanted problems. If you still have access to the folks you were talking to previously, I would seek nutritional advice from them. That works for me doesn't mean it will work for you. Are you the one who spoke of adding some extremely large pine bark to the mix? Is it possible the soil is simply becoming to dry between irrigating? What else is in the soil aside from the bark? Pam comes here often - also grows lots of Acers in containers. Perhaps she will read & offer her advice, which is always sterling. I'm at work now, but I'll link her to this tonight. Al

I figured there was an interesting story to the leaves. Gramma advice, IMO, is usually about 80-90% true. Trying to isolate that part from the rest is when the value can be capitalized. So she said to lay the leaves there & the fungus gnats would be repelled. Specifically bay leaves? Fascinating! No idea how to research that one... "Fungus gnats, made it to a 12" pot, root rot..." and every pic of your plant shows dark, moist soil. All of this in general says to back off on the frequency of watering. This type of vining, creeping plant doesn't need much soil relative to its' size, compared to a lot of other kinds of potted plants, so can take a long time to dry in a same size pot with a similar mass of foliage as compared to many other plants. If drying more is not enough to combat that stuff, like rotting roots and fungus gnats, the soil may just be holding onto water far too long for the roots to ever 'breathe.' Drying of itself can sometimes fail to get rid of FG's too, though almost always good for plants, but never to the point of wilt. There are some good discussions here about other measures if you find it necessary sometime.

Well, self-heading isn't exactly the word I wanted, but I didn't know what else to call it: I just meant the ones that all emerge from more or less the same spot, without any visible vining, like the difference between a Philodendron scandens and a P. 'Moonlight.' Having now dismantled the plant, I can report that: The remaining two long vines with leaves were both beginning to rot at the roots; one of them also had a dead stretch above the rotten stretch. There was, however, no smell. The soil was a lot wetter than I had expected it to be from looking at the top couple inches. Also the bottom of the pot had a crack in it that was open; I'm guessing this was because the support pole got pushed down too hard at some point after the repotting. Probably not the cause of the problems, but who knows. So it looks like probably the big one just had a bad soil and watering combination and rotted out. (Possibly there was damage to the roots, too, while I was repotting.) The one I made from cuttings seems to have different problems entirely, but it's not in any immediate danger of dying, so maybe it'll pull out of this eventually. The variegated one, who knows what its deal is. At least I won't have to deal with the dying plant giving me those dirty *looks* all the time, now.

The effect of soil pH on fall color varies with the tree species, and with cultivar. I have seen it noted that October Glory Red Maple is much redder in acidic soils versus more alkaline soils. I have in fact seen this happen. However I do not know about Pistache. But I do know nutrient levels can have a significant impact on autumn colors. Trees in heavily fertilized lawns tend to stay green much long. Drought effects are variable and depends upon the intensity of the drought. Some trees will respond more brilliant color, early color, muted color, or just drop leaves. i.e. American Smoke Tree tends to produce brighter colors drier poor soil conditions. Also the amount of sunshine often has a large effect. More clear days helps color. In the case of Chinese Pistache, color is not so dependent upon cool weather, and too cool seems to mute it's colors. Too cool too early has muted a many of fall in my location as well. Lastly, it can take years for a newly planted tree to produce normal fall color. As a general rule, the larger the tree at planting, the longer before fall color resumes. Each of our Sugar Maples took 3-4 years, and they were 1-1.25" caliper trees. Our Milky Way Kousa dogwood has 4 years, and still is not behaving normally, though completely healthy otherwise. So in your particular case, I would bet your Pistache simply has not been there long enough. I've seen it stated that it takes 8-10 years before completely normal behavior of 2" caliper plantings, and longer for larger plantings. Proper planting is critical as well, and the most frequent mistake. How big of a Pistache did you plant? What time of year did you plant? Is it planted properly? Did you plant it? How do you water? How much? How often? I would expect it to improvement over the next couple years, and keep the fertilizer away from it. Arktrees