Hi all, new member getting used to navigating this forum. Hope this works. Previous owner of mature Red Dragon Japanese Laceleaf Maple had to remove the tree quickly due to demolition. No rootball prep and I got it with bare roots last Aug. Used root growth with some sand at bottom. Trickle fed it for couple weeks. This spring produced some underdeveloped leaves on some branches. Thought all was good. This week all the leaves are curled, withered and dried.the pix showed it at its beauty before uprooting, last fall, this spring and now. Literature says could be due to under watering, over watering and disease. Also read that may come back next season or new leaves this season. Soil seems to be draining well. Will scratch test branches later for life. What to do? Thx all.
Good morning David and welcome to the maples forum. First of all that is a lovely Red Dragon and although I would not lift a tree in August, it appears you had no choice but to move it when you did. Secondly after reading your post, IMO you have done everything right. The planting depth looks good and there is nothing around it to compete with the roots. It does look very wet though. You say it is draining well, but if you are watering it a lot out of thoughts that it needs so much, then you may have drowned the tree. Maples need to dry out between watering otherwise you get root rot if the drainage is not too good. So here is my opinion. Stop the watering, and remove all the dead leaves, but leave the petioles. Then let it sort itself out and you may get a second flush in the next month. If you do, then only water once a week if you get extreme heat. A good soaking then leave it. Do not be tempted to water every day. Also do not fertilise, as this will cause it more stress. I hope your scratch test reveals green beneath the bark. Do let the forum know. D
as @Acerholic said, the watering could be the culprit now. Even with the good drainage, once the tree is stressed and the obvious signs are there, the root system will not feed the moisture up the tree which will set up the potential for too much moisture in the root system
Thx for the feedback all. It’s deceiving, the mulch is black mulch and makes it look wet. I haven’t watered this yet. It rains a lot here in southern BC. . I will leave it and let it dry out and hope it is still alive. Texted the soil and it is moist but not soaked. Will report back and update you on progress.
Hi all, update to the scratch test. Never thought plants can be a stressor, almost like a pet or child. Tested a few branches that previously had new leaves. Dead. Tested the main trunk. Green so still hopeful. Testing soil every few days 6 inches below. Moist. Drainage seems good. Haven’t been watering this year cuz of the rain. Watered couple times since noticing the state of the new leaves. Thinking maybe sun scorched. The Red Dragon supposedly can take full sun. It’s located where it gets prob 4-5 hours mid day sun. Climate zone 7/8. No idea why this is happening. ????
Hi David, it looks like your in a 50/50 scenario now. The green under the the main trunk bark is a good sign though. But do remember that no leaves means less water needed. You say you didn't need to water due to all the rain, yet you still added water, and as you say again, the soil was moist when you checked it. Too much water is more a killer of maples than less water. They do need to dry out between watering. If you have had a lot of rain as you say, then I still believe this is the cause of your Red Dragon's demise whilst it was trying to establish it's roots in it's new location. So when you check the soil moisture again, if it is dry then water, but if it is even slightly moist then don't. Good luck D
Due to the fact it was moved in August and being such a mature cultivator, the stress on the root system is the cause (imo). Although you did a "scratch test" on the main trunk, it is all the small fibrous root leggings that feed the root system to the main trunk. With it being uprooted at the worst possible time most of those small fibrous roots would likely have died off. The root system takes years to grow and it will take a few years to rebound if it does get past this critical stage. And yes, red dragon can handle full sun, we have two in the garden with sun all day
Thanks, nothing lost if unlucky. Just tried to delay its demise last summer. I had it on trickle feed for a couple weeks after transplanting it. I watered this year after the rains when I saw the leaves wilting and drying. Thinking that it was due to drought. I have stopped watering until the soil tells me to. The demo crew last summer had it out fir a few hours with no rootball. I asked the previous owner to soak it for 24 hours the day before demo but he didn’t do it. Sadly may be a waste of a beauty but still hoping.
Thanks. I will be patient even if it takes a couple years would be good. Will have to wait til next spring to see what develops. I would rather not have to did it up to check if there is root rot. It is still trying to rehab. Just going to let it dry out hoping that is the cause. Thanks for your advice.
Hi again, Browsing through other threads on this. I saw that it is not recommended to have fabric down under bark mulch which I do. Should I remove the fabric or not necessary? Trying to set the stage for greatest survival chances. Thx David
landscape fabric would not be a deal breaker as it does allow the moisture to pass thru. Trying to remove it now would likely upset the root structure even more I would think.
Hi, update on the JM. The truck was green when scraped. Now a few scrapes showed brown only. All beaches are dead. Trunk shows splitting bark. Trickle watered this week for 6-7 hours. Done? Strange that it bloomed but small and sparse leaves this spring.
It's not looking too promising David, but it's such a lovely tree I would give it until next Spring to see if it will recover. But the odds are not looking good I'm afraid, especially as the scratch test is showing brown on the trunk and branches. D
Like @Acerholic said, not promising at all. He has more patience then me as I would already call it a dead tree. Perhaps some summer lighting on the branches for an ornamental look until you want to remove it? You certainly gave it a fighting chance.
