Japanese Maple leaves wilt and fall off

[skiingjeff]

The last two springs the leaves on the Japanese Maple wilt and fall off. After a second but very much smaller amount of leaves appear. The tree is about 8 feet tall so its been around for several years and now has only about 20 or 30 leaves on it. I see some other buds but not a lot.

I thought maybe the tree wasn't getting enough air or water because it had one of those tree rings so the ring was removed it but the soil seems to be moist.

Shortly after removing the ring an animal came digging into the newly exposed area but don't know what kind of animal. Related or not?

Any ideas on what is causing this?

Sorry I don't have a picture to share.

[WildcatNurseryman]

Jap Maples are commonly nipped by late frosts and freezes. Later leafing varieties have been developed because of this.(Tamukeyama/Emperor I) That would be the most likely cause. Covering the plantsd in the Spring when there is a frost/freeze advisory is a solution as is getting up before dawn and spraying the plant with water. (NOTE: the spraying only works for frost, NOT FREEZE)

[applestar]

This year, with unseasonably warm March, a Japanese maple on the exposed front lawn started growing new shoots way too early. I told it so when I saw them growing: " Isn't it too early for you to be growing like that?"

Sure enough, came the NORMAL late March/April freeze (24°F) and those new leaves on strong new branches were hit hard and turned crispy. "I told you so. Didn't I tell you it was too early?" Snip. Snip.

But they do regrow and recover. One year our two large Japanese maples dried up in the summer drought with severe/strict water restrictions and lost all their leaves. I really thought they'd died. But new leaves grew out in September and they recovered, though quite a few branches suffered winter loss.

[skiingjeff]

Thanks for the advice. I considered that it might be frost/freeze this year but I didn't remember having a frost/freeze issue last year so I was looking for something else. I'll try the spraying next spring.

To applestar, if only our plants would really listen to what we are saying to them.

Thanks again!

[applestar]

Well, DH commented on the browned leaves after mowing the lawn on Friday, so I took a closer look. It seems I was mistaken - there are newer leaves drying up and browning. I think our tree was caught in an herbicide "drift"

Very off-putting (to state it mildly) since we don't use any chemicals on our property. It may also explain the wide swath of patchy lawn along that side of the front yard since our lawn is mixed grass and clover, etc.

I pruned and reshaped the tree but left some of the branches with dried up leaves since they might recover.

[skiingjeff]

Sorry to hear that.

Our leaves are growing back in and so far we are good.

Good luck finding the culprit spraying near your place.