Hey, just planted this japanese maple about 5 days ago, it was severly root bound in the container it was in, so I carefully untangled the roots and was forced to cut some outer root growth to ensure it didnt become root bound. Now the leaves look horible. Is this dead, or will it come back? images are attached.
Keep it watered and maybe shade it. Even if these leaves go on to dry up completely a new set may be put out before fall. Tree is not likely to be killed by root damage at this time but you should definitely nurse it for awhile. It is usual for deciduous subjects to burn or defoliate when there is root damage when they are in leaf, however it may not be usual for them to die as a result - except where people assume they have failed completely and discard them before they have a chance to grow new leaves.
Same thing happened to my red dawn from ebay. My dumped all of its leaves in three days. Don't know if it will re-leaf before fall. I'm waiting.