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Acer Palmatum Dying
RobintheHood
Posts: 2
In November 2016 I transferred a healthy five year old Acer Palmatum from a large pot, into the ground. The plant was previously in a compost/soil mixture and regularly came into leaf in the spring. In spring 2017 it came into leaf, as usual but shortly after a sharp frost the leaves began to shrivel and die. The branches have started to die back and are light brown in colour. There is still some green left in the lower branches but this is slowly diminishing.
The plant is approx 100cm tall and when I transferred it to the ground, I surrounded it with two square meters of slabs to retain moisture. I left a 30cm square gap around the stem, to allow for watering in dry weather.
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the light brown branches mean they're dead, remove anything that looks dead until the bark is green underneath, then give it a good water, and hopefully it will come back.
however did you check drainage before planting? Acers like being damp but not wet, the roots rot easily.
Also, they like slightly acid soil. I'm not sure if very alkaline soil would kill it, but it might not help.
Many thanks Treehugger / Firefly.
When I planted the Acer in the soil, it was quite damp but not waterlogged. I added extra mulch to the hole plus some fertiliser to help the roots. The soil is a clay / chalk / sandy composition. The Acer is in the shade and sheltered for most of the day.
I will cut it back a bit more, to find green stems and add some water. It's been very dry here in Oxfordshire, this spring.