HelpfulGardener.com

Hi, I am new with a japanese maple. I got this little fella last summer, I left it outside so it can go thru all the seasons, so it went thru a very harsh New England winter. So its finally spring now and most of my other plants are sprouting leaves and so forth except for this little guy. So I was wondering if its a goner. The branches are still bloody red, I trimmed off the dried up branches and I water it every day. Anyone have any clue, that will be great, I attached a picture.

[img]https://www.abccubed.com/template/photo.JPG[/img]

It's not looking good, but break off a branch and see if it is green inside. If it is the tree is still alive.

And STOP watering. Every day is way too much! If that is water in the pot as it looks like, your tree is drowning.

rainbowgardener,

thank you for your reply, I am going to stop watering everyday, but what would you recommend? Hopefully I will still see green in the branches.

Also should I give it some kind of plant food? I really hope its not dead yet.

I am a total beginner so the reason I started to water everyday is because I read somewhere that young trees need alot of water. So I figured this is a young tree and it would probably need alot of water.

No, do not fertilize a plant that is already struggling. It just forces it to try to make top growth it doesn't have the resources for.

Re when to water, here's a thread that outlines some of that:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8607#8607

It's from the bonsai section, but what you have is essentially a bonsai -- a very small tree in a small pot.

For right now what you most want is to let it dry out until the top couple inches of soil are dry. If there is water you can pour off the top, do that.
Does the pot it is in have drainage holes? Be sure they are not clogged up so that water can run out the bottom.

The pot does have a big drainage whole at the bottom. I haven't water it since the last time I posted here.

I still see no change but then I guess I should expect to see anything right away. I guess I have to cut a branch to see if its still green.

Thanks for all your help so far, rainbowgardener

Hi,
First of all IF that pot is waterlogged you have got problems ,I would repot it in a MOIST mix of potting compost 60% and pea gravel 40% ,BUT before that give it the thumb nail test stick your thumb nail into the bark on the trunk and pull the bark down ,if it is green underneath pot on as advised if it is brown it is to late and you have drowned it.
NEVER over water but keep compost moist.
koiboy01

ooh, cool, so I don't have to cut a branch.

but after I strip the bark, should I use something to reseal it or it should do fine on its own?

Hi,
You DON'T peel the bark you just stick your thumb nail into the bark and just ease a bit of the bark back enough to see the colour underneath. the wound is not going to be large enough to wrap up.
koiboy01

Oh my god, good thing I read your post first... I was about to go tree chopping.

Sorry for being such a noob on this, so I basically use my nail, pushing and chip a bit and then peek in from there to see if it's still green?

I suppose it won't hurt to do the bark test, but just looking at it, I think it's alive and just waiting to leaf out. Japanese Maples aren't the earliest to come alive in spring.

I have one the size of one of your branches -- all red no green (which indicates a more mature bark) at all, and it just started putting out tiny leaves in the last couple of days after a week of heatwave (80'/60's). I should think your garden would be at least another two weeks behind mine.

Definitely watch the watering because these guys are pretty drought tolerant and hate waterlogged soil. Clay pot sitting directly on the ground will wick up moisture and will not dry out unless the ground underneath is parched, and that's not likely to happen until the middle of the summer.

thanks everyone for your advices...

so I did the nail test this morning, and the main trunk still seem to have green.

I am in MA, and today is 52 F degrees. Kinda chilly this morning too, so if I am following what applestar said, maybe its still too cold for my little guy to do anything, I guess.

But what really concerns me is that its not even budding while all the other trees around it has budded already. I have a japanese plum, a red leaf flowering peach, japanese cherry, jiro persimmon and they all have budded and leafed. So I am like.."what is going here? ooh no is it dead?"

But is it normal to not even see buds?

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Hi Mike,
Nice to hear from you and I hope you enjoy your life now you are back home in Japan, look after yourself.
George.

yama,

thanks for your note, So should I pronounce it certified? and just give it a good final good bye?

I also have another japanese maple, but since now I learn that too much water is not good, it has been raining/misting for couple of days here. Should I move the guy out of the rain?

Please let me know, I don't want another one to go away.

Thanks

rainbowgardner,

I did the bark test and seems to still be green. But when I tried it on some other part, its not green its like as if its dried out. I let it dried off a bit but its been raining/misting for a week now and I don't see any change. Should I bring it into somewhere to see what happens?

Yeah I'd say definitely not dead... maybe needing a little bit of reviving but it'll get there!

so by reviving, you mean? cause I haven't water it for awhile now, and just let nature do its thing....meaning I let the rain or mist do its thing.

Still nothing....hhhmmmmmm any ideas?

Hello all, thanks for all your previous help but I am afraid the little thing has passed on. So I bought another one.... picture below.

What concerns me is the the tips of the leaves are starting to dry up? (see those white specs in the pic) I don't understand, I water it like every 2 days or so, so not that much watering. I mist the leaves every morning before the sun comes out fully. Is there any need to be concerned? Please let me know, thanks

[img]https://www.abccubed.com/template/image_2.jpeg[/img]

How much sun does it get? Japanese maples don't like much direct sun. I have one that looks like the exact same variety. (Do you know what it is? I just bought mine at the supermarket, labelled Japanese maple.) Anyway mine is planted in the shade of a big lilac shrub, gets hardly any direct sun and does great there.

I put it out in the open in the sun....so I guess I should move it into the shades.

Thanks for the help..

At least protection from afternoon sun. A part shade location with morning sun would be ok. But they are naturally understory trees and prefer filtered or indirect light.

so the tree in my first post is gone. Unfortunate, but I got a another and its my second year with it already. It just budded and leafed, its doing awesome. But earlier this year, around early March, where our Massachusetts weather went all whacky and got warm and then cold again..... but anyway, I noticed there were TONS of black aphids and aphid eggs on the THEN sprouting leaves, I scraped and blasted it with water.

Now it seems to be doing OK BUT I also have 2 flowering cherry trees, 2 Yoshino's. The leaves are being eatin already.

Now I am afraid that it will cause problems to my other trees and especially my maple. So I just ordered some Tanglefoot, I guess my new question for today, can I use that for my Maple tree?