I have just moved into an old house with a mature garden. There is a large japanese maple on the northwest corner of our property that gets partial sun throughout the day. It is in rough shape. There's limited leaf growth, and the leaves are brittle and 'chewed' up. I'm not sure if it's bug infested or if it's the drainage due to the shady location.... I've attached photos of the leaves and the ground surrounding the plant. It's a beautifully shaped maple but I know it needs help!! I'm a beginner in the garden and I want to treat the plant properly as it seems to be in a fragile state. HELP!!! Rup
Do you get alot of hot dry wind?? How moist is the soil? Do you notice any streaks of purple or black on the branches?
Symptoms sure look like bacterial blight, with most of the growth on the tips of the branches. Sick and unhealthy leaves. That tree has been there for a some years making environmental stress less likely. Visually looking is one thing, proper diagnosis has to be done in a lab. If it were my tree I would be deep root fertilizing it, fall copper spraying it, and dormant oil/lime sulphur treatment in the winter. But that is only my opinion and am not suggesting anything as a cure. It's just what I use for plant health. Jim.
Thanks for including the photographs. They are really helpful and definitely indicate that the tree needs attention. To replace it would cost a fortune as it is an older specimen. Therefore the investment you make into a soil analysis as a first step would be invaluable. I would like to encourage you to get instructions on collecting soil for a sample analysis of the soil around your tree and send it to a reputable laboratory. Some of our local B.C. members may provide some guidance on this. Besides the hedge, what else is growing around your tree? Can you post a few more close-up photographs of branches and leaves; and are they true to color?
It would really help if you had close up images of the leaves and the branches and if you have any dead branches some images of those as well. I know my vision is not all that great but the plant looks good to me!!? Also the leaves look normal for the variety too! Also what is that third image about??
Hi jimweed- I hope my comment can help Rupyee, especially if you are right, but can you explain your plant health treatment, that you detail here: If it were my tree I would be deep root fertilizing it, fall copper spraying it, and dormant oil/lime sulphur treatment in the winter. Why is copper better in the fall than the spring? What is the oil/lime sulphur treatment you are referring to? Thanks. Schusch
Laurie, the only place I know to have plant samples tested is at the Ministry of Agriculture in Abbotsford. I've always taken a clipping from the infected area, never thought about taking the soil as a sample, I'm going to ask them out there about that, that may be a good thing as well. I am sure there are other labs, but I never searched as I live near Abbotsford. Hi Schusch, on the west coast of British Columbia we get a common long rainy season in the fall. With so much rain and darkness, plants don't get time to dry off for weeks. Causing a lot of fungi to spread during this mild period. Copper is a great contact and preventitive measure in slowing down the spread. Also plants seem to love copper, this mineral seems enhance the alround health of trees. Dormant oil with Lime Sulphur during the dormant season: Lime Sulphur is another fungicide which somehow helps control moisture in the plants and kills off fungi. As well it it burns over wintering insect eggs. Dormant oil - Mineral oil, smothers eggs from over wintering pests, like scales, mites, and what we have here called the Bruce Span Worm. And deep root fertilizing stunted and sickly trees gives them a boost of life. Bacterial Blight causes dieback by first plugging up the tiny nodes where buds should form, starting at the beginning of the branch and working its way towards the tip of the branch farther and farther each year, eventually leaving just the new growth at the branch tips each year until it kills off the whole branch. It is my belief that copper and sulphur and fertilizer seem to increase the over all strength, possibly even slightly increase the size of the vascular system allowing the blight to pass through the tree without causing as much dieback. After some years of this program I have had severely infected Maples and other trees lose all symptoms of bacterial blight, and grow without dieback. This is strickly just from practical expierence from spraying trees for 20years, no proven science behind this idea yet. But I am attending UCFV part time, 2nd year, and 6 more to go, studying plant biology and chemistry, and will prove one day in a Thesis that bacterial blight can be cured from plants! I have to admit that this was not sololy my idea, Hanna Mathers from the Misistry of Agriculture 15-20 years ago suggested I try this annual program on some Cherry trees dignosed with brown rot and bacterial blight, what a difference it made then, and continues to today. Sorry for the novel, and I had to rush through this as I have a million aphids to kill today, Tulip and Linden trees are awesome! Jim.
Hi jimweed- thanks for this info. Diseases really seem a big problem for japanese maples. If a cure were available - for verticillium, for instance - it'd be great, but better propagation methods, and efforts to clean up plants would be even better. I'll look into the products you use. Schusch
