Crimson Red Japanese Lace Leaf Maple....Dying or not?

[Lace Leaf Maple]

I had recently purchased a Japanese Lace Leaf Maple, and I believe it to be of the Crimsom Red type...not sure...

However I am experiencing some sun burn problems with the maple, and the maples leaves are no longer just red in color, and have begun to take a green center color instead of just full red..

I was told to plant this maple out of afternoon sun and have tried to do that in the best place possible in my front yard, with a north-east exposure. So the maple only gets the most sun during the day time period and not as harsh sun during the afternoon.

The plant gets plenty of water, and is watered daily for 15 minutes each day every day during the morning hours 6am or sooner.

To give you a general idea of my location I am in northern Illinois.

Can anyone help me and reassure me what I am doing is correct..

We had a perfectly fine japanese maple last year but some landscapers who transplanted the maple did not do it right and did it too late in the season and it was killed due to the harsh winter, however the maple lived very well for 2 plus years previous to the transplant. so we replaced it with the current one that has been inthe ground for close to 3 months.

Someone please help...

if you want you can email me too at m_kahle@comcast.net


Thanks

Mark

[The Helpful Gardener]

'Crimson Queen' will get greener in more shade, so I doubt that it's sun burn. Try more water.

The rest of the info sounds about right; did you add soil amendments? Dig an extra large (twice the root ball) hole?

[Lace Leaf Maple]

Yeah as a matter of fact I went back today and amended the soil a bit, due to the very clay type soil. to allow better drainage. I amended the soil with some Miracle grow tree and shrub soil, made of mostly peat and some humus. I also added some Gypsum to the soil to help break down the clay features, and hopefully this works a bit better.

I am going to move to watering the beds 30 minutes per day in the mornings from 15 minutes per day, and see if this helps.

We are in a drought up here and have not seen significant rain since late march early april, so the water bills are going to be harsh this year, but its a far cry from what the bill would be if I lose one of these trees, or some of the nice shurbs and flowers I have planted, so the trade off is high water bill good looking and healthy beds..

Hopefully amending the soil a bit and watering a bit more helps... I appreciate your posting..

[Lace Leaf Maple]

To add to the previous post yep the hole I dug was at least 2 times the size of the root ball, just was not the best soil, so again I amended it a bit today by digging around the root ball and adding the amendments I stated above.


Again thanks for replying, I was wondering if this forum was dead or not as my search from the net took me here, sometimes I run into dead forums, but this one looks alive and well..

[The Helpful Gardener]

This tree likes a woodland soil that drains, but retains a goods bit of moisture, so your soil conditions are a trial for this tree. Won't help the water bill but you need to keep watering heavily at least three times a week to keep the whole soil profile evenly wet; that should help. Adding gypsum (pelleted) to the soil will help alleviate some of that bathtub effect that clay gets...

Scott

[Newt]

Hi Mark,

This site has fantastic info on Japanese maples, including info on youth and variagation.
https://www.mountainmaples.com/WS4D_Cookie=5.24.04_17,39,13_15/articles.html

Newt

[The Helpful Gardener]

Thanks Newt!