Hi, We recently moved into a new house here in Zürich, Switzerland. About 2 months ago, maybe a month more, I bought an Acer Bloodgood JM and planted it out of it's pot and into a relatively shady part of the garden (West side of house). The tree gets a little morning sun, then lots of shade, and later some more sun again. The soil is nice and sandy, quick drying stuff. No clay etc. The plant, when bought, was about 1.6m high and looked in very good health. At the shop it had been bunched in with many others and so was a bit squashed up and many of the branches (can you call them that when they are this small?) were intertwined. We planted the tree quite quickly, being sure to thoroughly wet the root ball as suggested on the guide. The tree made us very happy every time we left the house and had to walk past it. It looked healthy and the lovely red of the leaves was great. About 3 weeks later it started to change. The leaves slowly started to shrivel up and eventually the whole tree was the same. Now, three or so more weeks on, the whole tree is covered in tightly shrivelled, very dry leaves. Even the branches are starting to get a bit crunchy, and less flexible. We did have a week of pretty hot temperatures (33C) around this time, and even a few windy days. There are no spots on the leaves, I see no insects, and there is nothing untoward looking about the branches (from my limited knowledge). We watered the tree relatively regularly, but read everywhere that they should not be kept wet etc. is it too late to get it back? What should we do know? Should I throw some mulch around it, or some wood chips? Would grass clipping be appropriate? Should it be watered every day to try and give it life, or should it stay dry? I can upload a picture (although it looks miserable) tonight when I get home if anyone thinks it will help. Any advice on how to get back this beauty would be much appreciated.
Photo never hurts. Your reply makes me think of at least 3 options. 1. Tree is removed from shaded nursery row into stronger sunlight and foliage becomes crispy. 2. Had Verticillium disease - now symptoms appearing. 3. Was allowed to dry out at one point too much, and may be dying, or may be able to sprout new leaves and recover.
I think your poor tree has suffered greatly from the 33C temperatures and some winds, resulting in it not having enough water to survive. This happens in good draining soil and especially with a newly planted tree which takes over a year to establish properly and feed itself from the surrounding soil Quite simply, you haven't been watering it enough given the conditions a newly planted tree had to endure You can water more frequently now, but I fear you might have lost your prize asset I hope I am wrong, of course ...........
As suggested, here are some photos of the tree. I notice that the ground looks a little water-logged, but I think it may have rained here earlier. Practically the whole tree is black. Is this normal? Also... not only have I potentially murdered the tree, but also the title of the thread. That should of course read: Bloodgood.
Thanks for reply whis4ey. Do you think the pictures confirm this? It is sad indeed, but I can get a new Acer. It might have to go into a different part of the garden though, which slightly defeats its purpose. I hate throwing away $100, but what can you do? Any rescue package suggestions will be appreciated, assuming I can find the required materials here in Zürich.
Regretfully I think your tree is, indeed, dead Because you say the soil looks waterlogged, I would dig it up and examine the rootball. I was assuming, because you said that your soil was 'nice and sandy, quick drying stuff', that it was not getting enough water. However, too much water can bring the same results, so it is just possible that your soil is not as free draining as you thought? If the rootball is saturated, it was getting too much water. If it is bone dry, it was not getting enough. Either way, it will educate you in advance for your next purchase
Swiss33, this looks exactly like something that happened to me last year with a newly planted Acer shirasawanum: black stems, sudden total browning of leaves, and everything else. The plant had looked healthy and wonderful for a few weeks, then suddenly it was dead. I tried digging it up and placing it in a pot with perfect soil and pampering it, but nothing availed. I guessed that some disease had struck it down, since other maples from the same nursery, planted nearby, were doing fine. So I dug up the soil around where the tree was planted and dumped it far away, replacing it with fresh soil from elsewhere on the property, and planted a new tree of the same variety -- not precisely in the same spot, but less than half a meter away. For good measure (though I am normally a green sort of guy), I drenched the new soil with a fungicide. The new maple thrived, and is looking beautiful one year later. I never solved the mystery of what happened to the first plant. Such setbacks do happen in gardening, especially with Japanese maples, it seems, but one can always persevere.
