Could anyone help to save my acer. I bought an Acer Shaina at the end of March, the tree was healthy when I bought it but now is dying. Today I re-potted the tree to see if it could be saved but then I discovered that a section of the trunk near the root was turning black. Is it verticillium wilt? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. P
Good evening P, I'm afraid IMO it is the dreaded VW. Nothing more to do than dispose of the tree and the compost it was in. The only other thing it could be looking at the trunk is psudonomas syringae. But I don't think so tbh. Before you dispose of the tree, do a test by cutting a stem and if there is any black markings in the white wood, then VW is confirmed. Sorry I don't have any good news for you. D
Agree with Derek, but I would just add sterilise your secateurs afterwards before using on another plant
@Acerholic and @Jaybee63 , thanks for advice. You have confirmed what I thought about VW. Do you think the tree might have had VW when I bought it two months ago? As all my other acers and plants are fine but except for one Tamukeyama planted on ground next to this potted Shaina appears to show the similar symptom but it's trunk has not blackened. Should I dig up other acers nearby including Tamukeyma and clean their roots with bleach just in case? Thanks P
Good morning P, I'm afraid there is no known cure for Verticulum wilt, so if you suspect a tree for having it, I would remove it from the vicinity of others. Carrying out that process of root washing and placing the Tamukeyama in a pot would be a good precaution IMO. You say it's showing a similar symptom, what symptom are you seeing btw ?
Good morning D, I will dig them up, clean the roots and put them in pots. Fortunately they are small young trees so should be easy to do. The leaves of the Shaina and Tamukeyama were open but now are dry and sticking together as if they were not watered for weeks and look lifeless. P
It is interesting that one was in a pot and the other in the ground as VW is a soil born fungi. Did you buy both trees from the same supplier P? If so then the fungi may well have been in the compost from the nursery. The only thing to do now is lift clean and re pot. Then it's a fingers crossed situation I'm afraid.
Cut out all wood where you can see the stem colour changed. You will find a black streak inside the wood. Clean your secateurs after each cut and cut until you are around 50mm into clean wood. Even if cutting back to the main trunk, they usually grow back with time. Remove any regrow which occurs from below the graft. VW is common and unfortunately has to be accepted. Stressed plants and plants recently planted into the ground seem to be affected more.once they’ve got their roots out and are growing well after a few years they seem much more resilient. With very young plants, they can succumb to frost, but if frost has weakened a plant, it’s them more susceptible to other disease. So extra care is needed for young and recently planted Maples, especially if they leaf out early.
Is there any way you can minimize the risk of your plants, be it in container of in full ground, being exposed to VW? Can it kill large trees as well? I'm just imagining growing an acer for 20 years and then having bad luck and having to give it up?
Best advice I’d give is learn what it looks like, the damage, die back and black streaks within infected wood and walk round your maples looking for signs of rapid die back, and cut it out to past the streaking. Don’t take chances, it doesn’t go away and will likely travel further into the tree and possible the main stem, so the earlier it’s cut out, the better And always use clean tools.
To a certain degree yes K. Keep your maples in the best position in your garden, with morning sun and afternoon shade. Then ensure they are in the best possible free draining substrate and are watered regularly and especially if dry during the growing season. So in other words, keep your tree happy and healthy, then it has every chance of survival if it gets a severe case of VW. But remember most if not all have VW anyway and a small graft will always struggle during increased stress periods. For example this Spring with almost nightly frosts. Tbh K, I don't know many people who don't suffer a loss or two every year. It's par for the course I'm afraid with this hobby. A very well known old member of this forum on his YouTube videos says," hey, sometimes trees die". D
From our experience verticillium wilt can happen to any japanese maple. The fungus does live in the soil and can lay dormant for a long time.It can attack the tree quickly or move slower in larger specimens over a year or two. Dispose of your tree / soil and separate from all your other maples. The biggest factor is to know your soil content. We always ordered our own in bulk when we had our nursery ( large truck loads), enough for just one season of re potting. Always new soil each spring. Now we just create our own soil mix for the past 12 years as we only use to re pot , transplant our remaining specimens. I did post a video as well on the type of mix we use. VW can attack the healthiest of the weakest plant, it knows no boundries
Thanks D. I showed you my Aconitifolium and Sode Nishiki in the other topic and they get full sun all day... But according to my book on maples (Vertrees), these two can take full sun. You think I'm just asking for it leaving them there? The thing is... I basically have nowhere around my garden where there is shade during mid day... People think a garden faced north is bad... but I get sun all day.
But how about companion trees K ? I've planted Betula Snow Queens to add extra shade and I know J @Jaybee63 has also done this. Something to think about maybe!!? Remember maples are happier beneath canopies.
Silver Birches are beautiful tress and create the right dappled shade and Maples in my garden thrive underneath them. They are also fast growers, so no waiting 20 years to get a decent sized specimen.
I am not sure why D, it could be the inflected soil somehow got out of the bottom of the pot onto the ground after heavy rains? Both trees from different suppliers, I got the Tamukeyama from Ebay over a year ago. It has a similar symptom as the Shaina but its trunk is not black, so I hope it may recover if I clean the root and plant it in a pot. P
Well I am going to take it back to the supplier this Saturday to see if I am able to get a refund. If I can't then will cut the trunk to examine the stem, and then dispose the tree and soil as per your suggestion. Most of my acers are planted in pots, only some young ones are put on the ground with the hope that they will grow quicker. Thank for the useful info, I shall keep an eye on the young trees next spring. P