Good afternoon everyone, My name is Philippe and since a few years I started doing bonsai. While doing bonsai I fell in love with Japanese Maples. I've went to a few nurseries and started collecting them. So far they are growing well except one variety where Im having problems with. I have 2 orange dreams which I left sitting in the full sun. They did not like that at all and have burned leaves. I moved them to a shady place about 10 days ago where they only have direct sunlight in the morning. However they don't seem to recover and get worse. I also stopped fertilizing as I was not sure if this could make it worse. Did anyone had this experience before? Also, what would you do with the damaged leaves? Leave them or cut them off and wait for new shoots? Thanks for the help!
Good afternoon Philippe and welcome to the ne maples forum. First of all you did the right thing moving them to shade as this cultivar reacts bady to direct sun in my experience. Regarding the curling up of the leaves, this is normal for Orange Dream that has had too much sun. These leaves will undoubtedly fall in the next couple of weeks. So you can defoloiate or leave them to drop. IMO it makes no difference at this time of the year and I personally would let them drop naturally and then the second flush leaves will take their place. As you have moved them into more shade, they will then give you a nice look for the rest of the Summer. You ask if anyone else has had this experience with Orange Dream and I think the answer would be probably 100% yes. Regarding fertilising, I would not do this at this time of the year. I give mine a slow release once at the beginning of May and that is that. You do not want lots of soft new growth in September as that just leads to die back IMO. Hope this is of help D
Yep, I've had the same issue with my Orange Dream two years in a row - it's never happy no matter where I put it and gets leaf damage similar to yours. It's a tricky one, to be sure -- D's advice is good, I'm sure that will help!
My potted 'Orange Dream' have great colours in the spring. Then, I move them to a very shaded place where they only get 2 or 3 hours of sun at most.
Thanks for the quick replies all! Appreciated. For now I'll leave them where they are and see if they will like their new place.
Like 'Katsura' and others, it's prone to get fungal diseases on the leaves. Finding the right place, or when to move it to the right place when it's potted is the... solution ?
A very difficult maple to find the correct sun exposure for. Too much sun and you get the burning, too little and the spring colour is not as good as it should be. One dodge is to put it under a taller shrub or tree that leafs out a little later, or do as @AlainK above and move it every year after the spring flush but before the hot weather.
Hi Philippe, I even had this issue with my Acer Palmatum (the standard one). It's sunburn. Normally they don't burn but its a new tree which takes some time to grow out its roots. Don't worry about it as long as you keep it in the shade. I have a special place for my Orange Dream, Aureum, Jordan and Anne Irene. They get sun after 3 pm until about 5-6 pm. They look very sharp at the moment!
yes, the orange dream is temperamental when it comes to sun exposure. A couple of years in the early days of watching the leaves turn brown and dry was a constant reminder of getting the location right. Our oldest one, well over 20 years old now has been sitting in front of our greenhouse facing due north with a cedar blocking the western exposure of the sun as well. So basically next to no sunlight other then maybe an hour or so each day in the early part of the day.
