Hi, I need help. I planted a acer inabe shidare this spring behind my pond. Now the leaves are drying. I live in Ontario. Is is to much to little water. does the soil need to be more acid? If you got an idea , please let me know Heike
Have you been watering it? It's been very dry in your region this summer & Japanese Maples are not particularly drought tolerant, especially when newly installed and without a substantial root system. There preference is for moist, well drained loam with a high organic content but they are fairly tolerant of soil conditions, so unless you are trying to grow it in a bog, sand & gravel, or hardpan clay, it will probably be fine.
I have a socker hose running past it. goes on every 8hours for 5minutes. the soil seems moist. I also have it covered with woodchips to keep in the moisture. could it be anything else?
Too wet Dig it up and have a look to see if the rootball is soaking. If it is, replant the tree somewhere else where it has good drainage
I have a 5 years old Inaba Shidare planted in the ground, neither too wet nor too dry, watered and babysitted just like any of the many maples I have. Each year it behaves as described by Heike, pretty unsighty. However no branches are lost and each Spring it comes back to life with a wonderful display. Heike, that's life for A. palmatum cultivars. Your watering schedule does not seem excessive to me, unless you planted your maple in heavy clay. You will just have an ugly looking plant for the rest of the season. I would be interested on comments from other Inaba Shidare owners. Gomero
Well now ... I have to confess that I have never had any such trouble with my own Inaba Shidare You can see photographs of my plant (and additional photographs) here:Inaba Shidare
My Inabe Shidare has been one of my best success stories, but when I first planted it, it did the same thing even though I kept it well-watered. I decided to move it about 30 feet away to a more shaded location. It had been getting a blast of afternoon sun, now it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. The difference was amazing. It never burns now, keeps a nice color, just seems happy in the new location. You didn't mention the sun exposure so I thought I'd throw that out there. It's one of my favorite Japanese maples. Kay Dye
Whis4ey, mine must therefore have a genetic condition ;o)): The pic shows it in May. Now it is so ugly that I have not taken any pictures. And the unusual thing is that it has had this behavior for three years in a row. Kaydye, thanks for the info, mine is also in morning sun only. Gomero
Gomero I can see very little wrong with your plant as regards it being unsightly I can see some 'whitening' on leaves, but is this sunlight reflecting? Unfortunately your pic is too large to be able to come to a balanced opinion I know from reading your posts in the past that you are an experienced and enthusiastic maple grower. I say that because, if I had a plant that was behaving in the way you describe over 4 years, I would have moved it to a different position long ago. I have done that on many occasions and the difference it makes is amazing...... what Kaydye says in her post is exactly the same thing. Your maple is surviving, but certainly not thriving according to your descriptions. I would think it is time you gave it a chance to show you how beautiful it can be planted in the right place :) I hope my comments cause no offence ...........
Certainly not!!!, the more one learns about something, the more one understands how little one knows about it. My pic shows the tree in the Spring, it does fine. The browning and drying of the leaves occurs in July. Cheers Gomero
