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Acer Palmatum help
Scott Priestley
Posts: 5
in Plants
I recently purchased and potted a dwarf red Acer in a large pot on my Balcony. It's noticeably grown and become bushy with new branches sprouting over the last 2 weeks. Overall I'm really happy with it, looks great however, I notice on some on the leaves there looks like white fur patches ... Is this normal, do I need any treatment? I took some pictures of it but can't post them on here and can't find anything on the web. Any help would be appreciated.
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Scott, If you are using a phone and the picture upload (little green tree) is missing, post them to a photo hosting site and include the link here. It's really difficult to guess what this could be without a photo.
Let me know if these uploaded ok, any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
I've uploaded them here for you Scott:
I'm not sure, but I think the fine hairs might be normal on young acer leaves. The older leaves actually look very healthy.
Othewise it could be mildew and might be worth treating them with a general fungicide. Spraying with diluted milk is also reported to work as an organic alternative. Also make sure they are well watered as dry roots encourages mildew.
Thank you Bob
It may be normal but I don't believe that I have seen that many hairs on a young maple leaf before. The only other thing that springs to mind is mildew, a relatively common fungal problem on young trees at times. I would do nothing and see what happens. If the white hairs move to the other leaves then it is mildew. If the white hairs disappear then fine.
It's difficult to say as the leaves are still quite young. Acer palmatum 'Sumi nagashi' has large deeply divided leaves and this looks like the case with the plant in question. This cultivar sometimes has two extra, very small, lobes on the big leaves. Having said that Acer palmatum 'Atropurpureum' can be quite a variable thing. Sometimes you just have to enjoy plants for being attractive rather than for what they are.
I agree
I have been monitoring my Acer Palmatum and you were correct the White fur is on the young leaves they have all grown out now and look very healthy and it has become very bushy which I'm really pleased with. Thank you for al the advice