I will attempt to answer some of your plethora of questions others can continue this discussion. 1. your tree would do better with a bit more sun light morn sun and afternoon shade or at least filtered shade for the non sun period if less sun . your tree will do just fine but may not be very red or red at all?? In winter it really doesn't matter 2. you are talking about an Japanese maple of dissectum form. There are several that will do ok in your zone including the Crimson Queen and the Tamukeyama the latter IMHO is a superior tree in every respect and MORE winter hardy from my personal experience. Neither tree or any other dissectum is very sun /heat tolerant when it gets to 90-100 degrees for periods of time, but yours being in the shade alot will help...it won't die but just have leaf burn and color loss ( in too much sun as in too much shade shade as the summer gets hot) 3. you shouldn't need to cover in winter but expect occasional die back,. 4. Ask folks with the trees you like what they are ...they likely won't know the cultivar but what the hay it's worth a shot...They may just be seedless no names ...if they were here i would say that ( seed grown generics or Crimson Queens since we are in the dark ages when it comes to JM's ....but you are in JM country or at least near so who knows???.. Hope this helps others can yap in now especially about your water requirments which i wouldn't touch with a ten foot hocky stick ;>) David

Sorry sort of miss read your post. I don't know if others will agree and I don't know your weather. Roses are best moved in cool weather but it might cause less damage to maple if their moved now. If your weather is already hot give them some shade after you move them. Hope for Humanity does black spot thats why I no longer grow it. It's a gorgeous rose but you will most likely need to spray to keep it clean. I vote for moving it now. Hope that helped a little bit

This is the way I understand it, and I invite any feedback from folks who know more than me: The water contains all sorts of "dissolved solids," which are the minerals etc. When the water evaporates, it leaves those dissolved solids behind, which results in the "salt build-up." The more dissolved solids in the water, the harder it is for the roots to absorb the water, which is why we limit how much liquid fertilizer we add to the water. You add too much and the water and fertilizer are unable to be absorbed by the roots, the solids are left behind when the water evaporates and they build up in the soil/mix. Vinegar will adjust the water's pH level (makes it more acidic), which helps alkaline water (& any mixed in fertilizer) get absorbed by the roots better. It will not remove the minerals (or dissolved solids) from your water. I found that my problem was actually my watering schedule--I thought my roots weren't getting enough nutrients and water, which was true, but it was because I was overwatering, not because the hard water was "too hard" for my trees. I cannot get 5 G of distilled water for $1, so I switched back to water from the spigot after I discovered my watering schedule problems. Trees have been fine with that. If you do decide to continue with the distilled water because it's affordable, then Foliage Pro should contain the necessary nutrients. It's probably not designed to be mixed with pure distilled water, so you may find that you need to overdose a little to make up for the lack of baseline minerals. Then again, I'm not sure how heavy feeders Japanese Maples are. They may be fairly forgiving.

Really there's nothing to be done.