Japanese Maple - Trompenburg - Problems

Basil

Hi,

Looking for some advice. I purchased a 6' - 7’ Japanese Maple late last summer and due to landscaping delays it didn't get planted. It stayed and was cared for in the greenhouse at the nursery I purchased from over the winter. I picked the tree up ten days ago and was fully leafed. The tree sat in the planter in full sun throughout the morning and late afternoon until two days ago when I planted it using a four mix topsoil. During the last ten days we didn't get any frost but had some nights that dropped to 5-7 degrees. About 5 days ago I noticed some browning on the leaves and it's gotten progressively worse with nearly all of the leaves having some brown on them. The tree is also seeding, as you'll see in the attached photos.

The nursery indicated that I didn't have anything to worry about unless there was a chance of frost and we certainly didn't have any frost since the tree arrived. Was it just too cool on some of the evenings for this Japanese Maple and is this why I'm losing leaves? What can I do to help the tree?

Thanks for any help.

Attached Images

	Tree 001.jpg (41.2 KB, 57 views)
	Tree 004.jpg (56.2 KB, 42 views)
	Tree 002.jpg (48.2 KB, 37 views)
	Tree 003.jpg (36.3 KB, 40 views)

JohN Dee

Hi Basil.

Two problems that I think may have occured.

Root girdling. Root girdling tends to happen from an overstay of a tree in a pot where the roots meet the pot walls and start following them around and around, and will continue to do so after the pot stages. If this is the case, the easiest and cheapest way I would say, go and get some new un-girdled stock.

Your Soil. What kind of soil did you have before you planted this tree? Sandy and light or clay and heavy? If clay, it could be that you have planted it into an un-penetrable hole for water, basically same thing as the pot scenario above except water can not drain from this hole therefore lack of oxygen to the roots = sick/dying tree.

Oh, and did you plant it at the right depth?

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Basil

John,

Thanks for the reply.

The tree was in perfect shape when I picked it up but I guess there's a chance that root girdling took effect a few days afterwards. Does the fact that it was in a warm greenhouse and then moved outside when the temps were dipping (no frost but chilly) at night have any thing to do with it? The leaves are falling of as they dry up. The browning on the leaves seems to preceed them drying out and falling off.

The tree was transported in the back of a pick-up on the highway but with the head completely tarped.

The tree was literally planted 2 days ago and the problem with the leaves became apparent about 5 days ago. The tree was planted into a 4 mix topsoil all around the tree and a very well-draining sandy dirt beneath that.

The pot was tight on the root but because the tree is sitting in uncompacted soil could I remove it and loosen the roots a bit, would this help?

Should the tree be forming seeds right now or should that be happening in the fall?

Unfortunately I cannot return the tree as it was my fault that it was not planted last fall, I was happy that they kept it for me.

Cheers