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Japanese Acer

AllShadesofPurpleAllShadesofPurple Posts: 14
in Problem solving
Can anyone help. My lovely Japanese Acer which is about 18 years old seems only to be budding healthily on the outside - the inner part is quite heavily loaded with dead branches. How can i rectify? Any suggestions welcome

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hi @sandra.sidoli If it's dead in areas, there isn't much you can do.

    Have you got a photo or two? That can help with advice. The little icon that looks like a mountain is the one to click on for uploading photos.
    There might just be some damage to branches/stems lower down, which could have been from weather damage for instance.

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • AllShadesofPurpleAllShadesofPurple Posts: 14

  • AllShadesofPurpleAllShadesofPurple Posts: 14
    Here is the picture, a very sad sight. We didnt have any floods so it never had its feet in heavy water, drainage was slower than normal, but other than that I've really done nothing different.

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    One of ours is about 30 years old.  It suffers from a similar problem.  It’s just age and not disease.  All of ours Acers suffer from a little bit of die off each year.  We just prune off the dead branches, taking care not to cut any live branches. 
  • AllShadesofPurpleAllShadesofPurple Posts: 14
    Oh KeenOnGreen, that's marvellous (well much better) news than I had expected. I was worried it had caught some horrid fungal disease.  I will cut away the dead branches as far as I can and hope it will recover. Thank you - first time on this forum... brilliant !
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It looks like you have some new growth on the 'outskirts', so that's a bonus.  :)
    I'd agree with @KeenOnGreen, just [carefully] trim away anything obviously dead back to a healthy section.

    Keep taking a look though - so that you keep the overall shape of the shrub.
    Hopefully, it will look fine in  a few weeks  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • AllShadesofPurpleAllShadesofPurple Posts: 14
    Phew Fairygirl! thank you very much... I will watch carefully and trim away gently! Thank you!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited March 2020
    Let us know how it goes - and post a [hopefully good!] photo later on  :)

    Just be careful re the pruning. Make sure you have a period of no frosts etc, so that there's no danger of further damage to newly cut stems.branches.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • AllShadesofPurpleAllShadesofPurple Posts: 14
    Will do
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