Oh dear! You must be very dejected and downhearted. That is so sad to have a 2nd year of continuing losses to such an important and valuable Acer collection. I do hope 2012 will turn the corner, and your Acers will again flourish and grow strongly. Commiserations from this Acer lover from Wales UK
..with xconspicum (silver cardinal ,red flamingo) no problem grown fast with good color,the problem there is with Alice!i buy 5 Alice 5 dead!the little advice is plants the snakebark maple ,not in the hole ,but on on small hill of soil .. in my garden never problems with the acer planted with this method,i plant some species liki crataegifolium in the hole and the V.is present..ok i add pics next time..i'm afraid for my capillipes Wakisaka nishiki and another 6 maples(palmatum geisha gone wild,lisa ,emi,shaina,one micranthum and acer t.liquidambarfolium) dead in this seasons...i write this because like man speak in Italy :mal comune, mezzo gaudio= bad together,mid happy :)
mal comune, mezzo gaudio = trouble shared is trouble halved (according to google translate). Good sentiments Alex, I feel for you guys who's maples are suffering. Have any of you guys in harsh growing areas tried using Lithovit on your maples to reduce plant stress? I am currently looking into it with regard to increasing fruit/vegatable yields, but it also has a potential application in forestry/shrubs/trees etc for boosting plant health and reducing moisture requirements. Lithovit New Zealand homepage. Observations for Use - Fruit-Bearing Ornamental, Forestry Trees and Shrubs FAQ from Lithovit EU website
we'll I'll join the pity party. Very bad year for me too, although the full extent should be more clear next spring. cicadas just absolutely tore up many of my young trees :( - at least should be gone for 13 years!
No such problems near Bordeaux, southwest of France I got poor autumn color for the moment because of drought with the leaves That fall without coloring But i got nô disease and all my snake barks seems ok The high humidity i got in my garden is may be the key
Sorry to ear that Gomero I know it can be very frustrating that fungi soil problems if it is from the soil...? last month i planted my emerald lace in a flower bed where i had an Hydrangea that had powdery mildew problems... i desinfected the area and replaced the soil (about 100l), two weaks ago the fungi appear again in the maple. I liked to help you with this issue but i dont have any experience with this type of problems. Best Regards
Well, again, thanks everybody, don't you feel sometimes like wanting to collect ferns instead? ;-)) Maf, that Lithovit seems like something new and exciting, I have never heard of it, are you using it? Bigjohn33, how old are your snakebarks? Gomero
No, not yet, I have only fairly recently found out about it. I will trial it in 2012, mainly for veggies but will also try it on shrubs and acers. I would be very interested if anyone has hands on experience using Lithovit on maples. I don't normally buy into miraculous plant growth aid type products, but the science seems right for this one and the reports from those who have used it are both positive and plausible.
I don t think That age is a specific matter for the snake bark acers you have lost gomero My dear neighbor, who gave me the passion for acers, has 10 or 13 snake bark maples aged over 15 or 17 years, and she never had a single lost! Its only lost is a cornus contreversa I think That the climate near Toulouse and specifically hot dry winds and lack of humidity is just too far away from the original weather conditions of acers. it is still a bad year for autumn color
Gomero, have you thought of trying mycorrhizal fungi? http://www.eastofedenplants.co.uk/rootgrow_professional.htm They use it at Kew and Westonbirt. You have nothing to lose by giving it a go. I know you have an irrigation system, but your Acers are in amongst very large trees which will take masses of water away from the roots of the Acers. Have you dug down a few inches in summer to see if the water you are putting on is getting down deep enough?
I've started using Rootgrow mycorrhizae this year in pots, with good results. In fact just yesterday I ordered a 2.5 kg tub, and will be planting out with it. At slightly more expensive than the eastofeden site, sadly. Mine is not called "professional", I wonder what the difference, aside from name, is. BG33, I think it is clear that there is some age correlation with Gomero's snakebarks, if only because disease seems to strike around a certain age and be absent before that. Which environmental or other factors cause this is unknown, but perhaps absent in your neighbor's garden. Regardless I'm glad to hear your and your neighbor's maples are doing well. The Gironde is also quite hot in summer and dry... -E
Benomyl this product is advised in Italy..and burned dead maples..another cause that i find in web literature is over nitrogen fertilize.
May be gomero can give us some information on his environment! It can help. Of course it is hot and dry in gironde. But my very close environnent is pine forest and small river That gives air humidity. We can imagine that difficult conditions shorten the life cycle of acers and specificly snake barks which are not mean to be planted in the south of France?
I just looked at gomero s garden at essenceofatree It is just a paradise I hope That you Will continue to plant acers even if it is such a difficult task
Hi Silver surfer, yes I inoculate newly planted maples with endo-mycorrhizae, I suppose it is good from others experience. I have not had time to do an experiment planting the same tree one with and another without to confirm it in my setting. The trees affected were adequately watered and were not under drought stress. BJ33, I fully agree that the climate of Toulouse is not ideal for Japanese Maples but my setting is OK for them, and an automatic watering system covering the full garden makes up for the lack of rain. My garden is in a north facing slope protected from the hot vent d'Autan by large oaks. Emery, I have seen that now in France terreau inoculated with mycorrhizae is offered to professional growers, but so far I have not seen it for 'amateurs'. Gomero
I have not seen this, what brand or source is it? All I've seen in France is a product from Truffault which has mycorrhizae but is mostly nitrogen. I've been getting Rootgrow from the UK. Alex, I understood benomyl is illegal in Europe now.
