We recently moved to a new house which has a 30-year old Emperor 1 Japanese Maple which isn't doing well. Some of the tree shows no sign of growth while other portions of the tree has leaves. Total coverage of growth on the tree is less than 10%. There are just two places where the old tree suffered from a late frost. We have another tree that propagated itself and is now about 8' tall. We are trying to figure out what to do about the existing Japanese Maple and are looking for guidance/recommendations. Please ignore the branch that died on the Leyland Cypress to the left. When I was inspecting the JM during the Winter, I pushed on the branch and it cracked in cold weather and haven't cut it out yet. Orientation and Environment: The JM pictured is on the North side of the house, about 30-feet away. It receives direct sunlight between the hours of 9 and 130. Soil is well drained and from what we can tell, the feet aren't wet, but it has been getting good water throughout the growing season, naturally. In the first picture, it shows the overall tree as it is today. I've made notations to add some context. Almost all leaves on the old JM are maroon in color. The new JM started out bright red and has gone bright green as the Summer progresses.
Hello, Just seeing your post. When you say "propagated itself" I guess you mean grew up as a seedling. So the first thing to mention is that this second maple is just a plain Acer palmatum Japanese Maple, perhaps a nice tree, but not an Emperor I. JMs do not remain true to their parents from seed, which is where many new cultivars come from. This new maple is very close to the old one, so if you want to keep them that way, you'll need to prune both over time. Or you could move the new one to a different location in the garden. I'd consider it risky to move the Emperor I at this time. For the Emperor I, the first thing to do is get rid of all the dead wood. As you prune down the branches, when the bark has a green layer under it, that indicates live cambium which can transfer nutrients. Alternatively you can scratch here and there and look for some green. If it's brown, the branch is dead there. As you cut, clean the pruners with a bleach or alcohol solution between _every_ cut. This is very important, because if there is a pathology, you need to prevent its spread. Now inspect around the lower trunk, and see if the wood is alive there, not black or gray. Trees that have already died sometimes put out leaves here and there, from the energy left in the wood. They are dead but just don't know it. Once you've taken off the dead wood, assuming the base is alive, it's decision time: is there enough left to save? Are you willing to put in the formative pruning time, over years, to make it a harmonious tree again? Sometimes it's simply not worth it, in which case the best advice is to take it out and start again. If you want to post a picture once you've got the dead wood off of it, we may be able to help with the decision. best of luck, -E
We greatly appreciate the input. We will trim back all dead branches, but we do not expect much to remain. Since we haven't looked at the root structure, we have no idea if the seedling is hopelessly intertwined. We don't mind if the tree takes some effort, over years, to recover. Worst case, we will take it down and leave the other sapling.
