Acer palmatum 'Amagi shigure' (Japanese selection)

Here is another photo. Just wondering why the leaves are not showing the deeply divided and narrow lobes? Thanks.

 

My bet is that, like so many other cultivars, the first years leaves are larger and shaped differently than the leaves growing on older wood from previous years. I'm sure others can explain it more eloquently than I.

 

Great question. All of my Amagi shigure look the same as yours does. Also this year many maples seem to have weird leaves that appear stretched and narrow. More reverting also.

Anyone have answers or possible answers?

 

I'm not much help here, because I can't keep mine happy, but I can share my observations. My tree came from B&B (not giving the name but the first is the same as the last). It came in a 24"cedar box. Comming off the truck it was loosing its leaves and had that horible case of Oregon powdery mildew. The long leggy new growth was a ball of mess runing all around with in the canopy.

After loosing its leaves the new leaves that formed from secondary buds were irregular so was the second flush of growth. The case of powdery mildew kept comming back, putting up a big fight against all treatments. Brown spots were a real problem too. The leaves tend to fall apart on the stem.

I believe the tree is now in its second year. The leaves are dark and larger, with small bouts of powdery mildew. The tree lost a lot over winter and has grown some to recover all that was lost.

Needless to say this tree is my greatest disapointment as those who sell it really made it out to be something great. Maybe its not meant for the midwest, maybe it was the source, or the individual tree, or maybe its me. All I know is that I have a large collection of happy healthy maples and maples growing as bonsai, but for some reason I can't successfully grow this tree. I fix peoples problems with thier maples but I can't fix my own problem with this tree. It looks good for the first few weeks of the season and then its a slow decline from there. 90% of the time it is nothing special and does not add any interest to the garden.

 

To summarize my tangent above; I have found that the irregular leaves form when the tree is stressed. When the tree pushes from secondary buds or a second flush of growth (while under stress) or growth from adventitious buds will result in irregular leaves.

This season my tree is not under stress, did not defoilate so no growth from secondary or adventitious buds, and the leaves have remained normal this season.

 

JT1,

Thank you for sharing your story about Amagi shigure. I guess I hadn't considered stress as the culprit. For me my maple stress begins changing leaf color to fall-like colors when they are not supposed to be colorful yet. But nothing is normal about this year. We had an early spring and most of my maples in the greenhouses had leafed out a month early - I try to time the spring growth and its color with my local plant sales. So I guess an early fall is not unheard of.

We have had the hottest year even in the Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA area. I am just North of these cities. And for the kicker, I think we are in a drought. So I won't worry about the morphed out leaves and hopefully each maple will correct itself for next spring.

 

Maple_lady,

Yes, next year the leaves will be normal. Some of the weakest growth may not survive the winter or next springs push of growth.

A few years ago we had the earliest spring on reccord followed by a very dry growing season. The trees started getting fall color in August, which is 90 days early. For all but one maple, the fall show lasted 90 days; starting off slowly and hitting peak color at the normal time. All did just fine the next year, they just had heavy seed production during that next season.

 

To be fair, this tree came from Buchholz Nursery with an active bacterial infection in the trunk the size of a 1.5" x 1.5", so my tree may not be a true reflection of how this variety handles zone 5/6 winters. This past winter was considered more mild than the past two winters, but this tree looks terrible. Thankfully I have an effective solution to treat bacterial infections that once treated stops the spread of the infection and clears up the trees vascular system, otherwise this tree would be dead!






Based on some of the pictures it looks like it may treat tight bark too.

 

Please share your solution as I have an Amagi Shigure from the same source that has Pseudomonas syringe. Two acquaintances also purchase the same tree from the same source and theirs are also afflicted. I've tried a copper spray last fall and so far this spring I see continued, but milder, issues. Several new leaf tips are turning black. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
I cannot imagine that now four of the same trees planted in four different locations at four different times are not a result of poor stock.

 

I completely agree that its the source based on your information and the fact mine was sick as it came off the truck. The leaf issues and the lack of ability to tolerate sun sounds like my tree. Then I treated it and its like a different tree during the growing season, but bacterial outbreaks when the tree is dormant still remains a problem. I could have prevented some of it had I been more villegant over the late winter and treated it proactively or at first signs. I did catch it soon enough to stop the spread and it just got another treatment as it is leafing out before I took the pictures.

Copper spray is better than nothing, but it just is not effective enough.

The solution I use was developed by my wife. Its a horticultural tea using all organic plant based antifungal, antibacterial, and antiseptic.

It will stop an active infection and clear out the vascular system and stop the decline of the tree. Wound wood will form under the infected area. The response to the tea is just a few days and the tree will recover. We spray and water it into the roots. We repeat 3 days later. Its then like a cancer in remission. You have to monitor the tree for any future outbreaks. Some clear up and never come back, but a few trees such as this one have a yearly outbreak that we treat, so unfortunately its not a cure. But it works great to stop a current outbreak or stops an active infection.

We have been using it for the past 3 seasons. It was born out of desperation after the coldest winter on reccord and we were about to loose several very old maples. I will start a new thread with pictures and more details at some point this week in the maple forum.

If you are interested, send me a private message and we can work something out. Its not commercially available and its not my formula to give away. We plan to release the product at some point.

 

Here are some updated photos after treatment and the tree has leafed out.

 

my tree failed to return on its second winter, bought a new one and it died after one season.
so i can conclude so far that this cultivar is not as hardy as others, and i live in zone 8
quite disappointing.

 

I would like to add my photo of my Amagi shigure, as I see there have been none for 4 years and this is such a pretty cultivar that brightens any garden, whether you have just one maple or a large collection. Place it amongst lime green companion plants and will just pop.
Mine holds it's colour all Summer, this photo was taken on the 9th June 2020.
There is a typo on the name on the photo, it should read Shigure.

 

This is how my Amagi Shigure is looking on the 10th July after suffering strong drying winds, cold and heavy rain. What a Summer !! Still not doing too bad though.

 

New growth everywhere today 15th July 2020. An equal to Spring colour ?? I think so.

 

23rd July 2020, still holding colours and reticulation. Lots of new growth now.

 

Cotinuing my photo diary as requested, 29th July 2020. These photos showing my Amagi Shigure is not letting me down this year with Summer colour.

 

August 4th 2020, bright new growth and the subtle changes of my Amagi Shigure.

 

This is the 10th August 2020 and still in the heatwave. This is my continuing diary of my maples throughout the Summer as requested.

 

13th August 2020 and the heatwave has now taken it's toll. New growth and old all suffering.
But as promised I'm adding these photos to show how cultivars cope at different times of the year and in different conditions. Some definatly not pretty, so have not put them on the Cheering ourselves up with maples thread !!!!
This is where they should be.

 

All the colours are appearing now on all my maples and as promised I will keep the photo diary going to show the transformation. So much rain now and new growth, the new shoots are loving this weather at last.
A photo for J @zfrittz.

 

Good afternoon D. go more beautiful colors, I am liking this maple a lot, it is handsome, handsome.

 

@zfrittz good afternoon to you also J. Just thought an appetizer before yours arrives in a few days.

 

Well it's the last day of August 2020 and as we have had a lot of rain and cooler weather here in England over the past two weeks, all my maples are doing well for the time of year due to this.
My Amagi Shigure has produced some new growth that is looking rather pretty IMO. It is my favourite today in my garden.

 

6th September 2020 and there has been a lot of talk on the maples forum about the strange colours this year. Yes they are strange, but enjoyable to see none the less.
My Amagi Shigure is giving so much variety of interest, that it is hard not to take more photos ; but here are 2.