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Acer.. Japanese ???? in need of help
Jonathan Wallbutton
Posts: 1
in Plants
Hi, First post and a novice gardener so forgive my ignorance. I've got a beautiful Acer, which I believe is described as a Japanese maple. Beautiful deep red leaves. It's a well established plant and was here when I moved in over 6 years ago. Last summer several main branches seemed to just die. The leaves all turned crisp and dropped off. I didn't cut them off as its a third of the tree. It's a fairly big tree at over 7ft. Anyway, those branches don't seem to have recovered this year. No leaves at all. The rest of the plant seems OK, but I'm a bit worried about it. Any ideas, thoughts or advice would be gratefully received. Cheers Jon
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Posts
Possibly wind burn? Did you somehow change the environment? Trim or remove something that would have previously have given the tree shelter from the wind? Did it become too dry? Is it in a pot or in the ground? At that height, I'm assuming the ground.. but thought best to ask.
They are very prone to this, and it is usually when they get dry, often caused by wind drying the leaves faster than they can draw up water.
The beauty of a maple is largely down to its shape, and its finely cut leaves. If you are losing leaves and having to cut back dead branches too, you may want to rethink whether they are the right plant. I no longer bother with them for this reason.
Those branches won't recover so remove them along with any other dead wood. This may leave it looking a little unbalanced but don't trim any other branches till you see what new growth, if any, you will get this year. Give the plant a feed of blood, fish and bone and make sure it has plenty of water in dry spells.
Make sure your plant gets a generous mulch of well rotted garden compost at its base every autumn as this helps with soil fertility and good root development to sustain the plant.