This summers acer weather Good or bad?

Discussion in 'Maples' started by zonebreaker, Sep 3, 2009.

  1. zonebreaker

    zonebreaker Active Member

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    Ok lets go! Here in nothern sweden it have been a wet summer,more rain than usual and lower temperatures than normal. And to top it off a long period of hard wind after the frost ,and lice during the summer.....

    So how are the acers doing?

    A few was suffering from the late frost in june and has not grown at all.(triflorum,shirasawanum aureum and a shirasawanum and acer japonicum???? )All of them is in full vígor but no new growt.
    Acer palmatum atropurpureum recovered well from spring deer damage, 20 cm new growt.
    Acer Tegmentosum 1 m new growt!
    The pseudoplatanus "eskimo sunset" was hit hard by lice when leafing out,before i noticed and could intervene,5 cm new growt.
    Acer palmatum dissectum "filligree" suddenly lost all leafs after spring leaf out (i think i forgot to water..)new leafs during summer and doing fine now.

    The rest of the palmatums has been growing between 5 cm to 10 cm,
    acer japonicum aconitifolum 20 cm.

    It´s a constant struggle,but next summer!!
     
  2. slickhorn

    slickhorn Member

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    Re: This summers acer weather God or bad?

    This summer has been rough here in Seattle. Alternating spells of unusal cool and wet, followed long hot dry spells, and back again.

    Ukigumo dropped all its leaves, but is back in full plumage and even sending out some new shoots. A small A.s Aureum suffered similar date. Shishigashira had some scorch up top, but seems to have healthy buds there. I just hope it doesn't break bud -- too late for that now.

    Worst casualties have been A. p. murasaki kiyohime, which lost all structure, but seems alive. Also Japenese Sunrise, which will be lucky to survive.

    I suspect watering is the culprit. It only takes a light hand 2 sessions in a row in the weather we've had to doom a 1 gallon potted maple. Then again, almost all of my ~45 cultivars are less than 4 years old and still potted -- every year I seem to have a half dozen who just have a rough year. I'm still moving them around annually, trying to find where they are happiest. definitely gave Tsuma Gaki way too much sun this year. But it's amazing how tough these little trees are.
     
  3. kaspian

    kaspian Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Maine coast, USA, zone 5
    Re: This summers acer weather God or bad?

    Ah, yes -- the eternal cry of the ever-hopeful gardener. I hear you, bro.

    This summer in Maine has also been extremely wet and cool -- with just a couple of dry, hot periods thrown in to confuse things -- but the maples all seem happy.

    A. triflorum grew an alarming amount -- over 30 cm -- and now seems to be budding out again on the highest tip, dangerously late in the season.

    'Johin' (a palmatum-shirasawanum hybrid) also grew vigorously, mostly sideways, as did 'Purple Ghost.' Everything else just seemed to have a normal year of healthy growth, except 'Ariadne,' which put on an extremely prolonged single flush of growth that only came to an end in the past couple of weeks. There is one stem so long and close to the ground that I am trying to layer it.

    Newly planted 'Seiryu', 'Orange Dream' and A.s. 'Aureum' -- additions inspired by the "Only Three" thread -- all looked rather beaten when they arrived from Forest Farm a couple of weeks ago, but they seem to be settling in nicely, with plenty of time still (I hope) to get settled for winter.
     
  4. tjcher

    tjcher Active Member

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    Re: This summers acer weather God or bad?

    Also cooler and more wet than normal here in Colorado. Oddly, the tree that looks the worst for me is my 9 foot Bloodgood. Everything else seems to be doing great. I ordered an Osakazuki and Saoshika about three weeks ago, planted them, and they are good, but some leaf tip burn. This always seems to happen when new trees arrive. Stress from the trip, or working too hard on the roots? Not sure...

    Right now, and in the last two weeks I've had lots of new growth on Seiryu, Hogyoku, Butterfly, Sekimori, and Orangeola. We usually don't get frost until late Oct / early Nov, but I hope there's enough time for all of this growth to harden off....
    Tom
     
  5. zonebreaker

    zonebreaker Active Member

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    Re: This summers acer weather God or bad?

    triflorum 30 cm great! i whish...but what about my Acer Tegmentosum 1 m !!
    I wonder how those shoots will survive winter.............
     
  6. prairiestyle

    prairiestyle Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
    Omaha, NE, USA
    Re: This summers acer weather God or bad?

    I don't mean this to sound too harsh - but I've never been overly impressed with the plant material I've gotten from Forest Farm. It's true they've got a great selection, but the trees I've received were mostly unimpressive (ie - the trees listed as 4-5 ft were all topped and/or poorly branched, or they those that were grafted were planted waaay too deep - 5 inches above root flair with soil over the graft line, and so on) My first A.s. 'Aureum' was from Forest Farm, and it didn't make it through it's first winter. For japanese maples especially, there are several superior vendors - Mendocino Maples, Topiary Gardens, Greer Gardens, Eastfork Nursery, etc.

    All that aside, I hope your three new babies thrive under your TLC! They are lovely cultivars.
     
  7. kaspian

    kaspian Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Maine coast, USA, zone 5
    Re: This summers acer weather God or bad?

    I know what you mean about Forest Farm. Though I did order two maples from them last year -- A. shirasawanum 'Moonrise' and 'Autumn Moon' which looked fine on arrival and are doing nicely in their second summer. This was strictly a logistical choice -- they seemed to be the only vendor (at least among those I checked) that happened to have all three varieties I wanted for sale at this time of year at prices I could afford, and I wanted to do a combined order to economize on air-freight charges. (Packages shipped by ground can take some time to arrive in Maine, and this didn't seem the time of year to have maple trees spending too much time in a hot truck.) The A. shirasawanum actually seems the best specimen of the bunch.

    Ah yes -- the other eternal cry (at least among cold-climate gardeners).
     

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