I have a miniature red japanese maple cutleaf variety, not sure of the exact species. The first couple years after planting all went really well, the last 2 seasons, despite its growing wonderfully the red color of the leaves has become more of a green, and the later into summer it has gotten the greener the leaves seem to be. Is this possibly a soil related issue ? and if so what should I do to remedy it and bring back the wonderful red coloring
Might be able to get more red with increased sun exposure. If shading is in fact the problem have to find a comfortable midpoint between too much and not enough.
Could it be reverting to it's original form from the suckers at the base being allowed to compete for nutrients & moisture with the rest of the tree?
Red leafed varieties are prone to turning green in shaded areas This is quite normal If you want brighter reds give the plant more sunshine :)
Thank you for the input . The tree does get more shade in recent years than it previously did, probably by atleast 1 to 2 hours a day, due to the rampant growth of a flowering pear at the other end of the yard it recieves less morning sun than it did, and afternoon sun is blocked by the fence line it is planted next to. I'll try some judicious pruning and see what happens, though it was my last pruning attempt that seemed to spur the growth of the pear to begin with.
While they green up in too much shade they are apt to fade and burn in too much sun. I'd rather have purple and green than brown and crispy.
hehe I hope Ron has just cheered you up :) If it did all right in your sun before, it should be all right again, I would have thought .....
The only sun available to it is in the morning, fence lines keep it in full shade from noon till evening. I'll prune carefully , at it's original planting it recieved 4-5 hours of dappled sunlight and did very well, it now gets at most 2 hours , and it did get some browning on the leaves edges but that was during a couple weeks with the heat index at and over 100 Farhen. With some judicious pruning of the pear and nearby fruitless cherry I should be able to duplicate the earlier sunlight conditions, if it begins to brown too much I could always add a small ornamental arbor over the tree and small waterfall it over hangs, to give it more protection. haha, Sam I actually found Ron's comments helpful, it re-enforces the balance needed to get the desired results, me,overgrown trees, new saw... I should probably record the post and loop it while I prune.
