I have lots of maples leafing out in the hot(!), early spring in England. One has been up in the sun for a few days (in a pot) and was doing fine. Today, I've noticed most of it's leaves are either wilting or dying rapidly. It does not look well at all. It's a relatively young plant. I would like to know if anyone can identify what is wrong and if there is anything I could try. I have many other maples nearby, all seem in excellent shape and I would hate this problem to spread to the others. The symptoms are rapidly wilting and dying leaves (approx. 1/2 the leaves on the plant) with sometimes a whitish powder at the base of the leaves and in one small area on the trunk - possibly fungal. This tree has changed dramatically in the last 24-48 hours, and looked healthy then. There are some aphids on it, but not enough to cause this rapid change. I have attached some photos - sorry about the quality, it is getting dark here.
Max, I have the same problem here.... with the cultivar Acer Ueno Yama, I also had some aphids on it and sprayed with biological stuff called Pruzit (Ecostyle). I noticed the amount of aphids was less and the plant continued leafing out, it seemed to be fine. Now same as on your photos I saw leaves wilting or dying....in short time, I think this plant was not healthy enough but I m not sure. Coming weekend I will dig it out and check the roots and after I will put it in a container. My plant was not in heavy sunshine, only got some morning sun and afternoon shade. I did not see the whitish powder. All other maples here seems to be fine as well as my Shin de shohjoh which is planted next to this Ueno Yama. I keep you informed....I will not give up, will give the plant a chance even if it is looking bad right now.
Sorry, don't know what the cause is, but the plant is a red-foliage cultivar of Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum), not a Red Maple (Acer rubrum). In terms of common diseases affecting maples, check out verticillium wilt and powdery mildew. Another possibility is simply drought; at least up here (NE England), there's been almost no rain in the last month and a half.
Are the leaves, after wilting, blackening as well as the twigs? If yes, then it is likely to be pseudomonas,a bacterial condition. It is the most common condition that affects japanese maples in early spring. This issue has been discussed widely in this forum and you may do a search to find the pertinent threads. Gomero
Just a quick note to Jan M, about sprays. I don't know Spruzit, but I once killed a young maple with an anti-aphid product, because it was oil based. Same symptoms, shrivelling and drying up. There is a thread on this forum about this, from last year.
Apart from the lack of water I would also check the roots of your plant for vine weevil larvae which would cause a quick death like this
Blights of Japanese maples caused by pathogenic organisms seem to be widespread these days. One experienced participant in these forums has mentioned a few careless nurseries sending out pre-infected stock that fails after the purchaser has the doomed plant for awhile. The new spring growth of Japanese maples is also vulnerable to late frosts. Here when we have clear weather in winter or spring it is often also frosty. A friend gardening in a nearby community told me yesterday there was a frost 2 1/2 weeks ago, showed me his damaged tomato plants that were beneath a plastic row cover.
Thanks to all for comments, hmmm I think the anti aphid stuff I used is OK but I think next time I let mother nature do things allone, or I help a little to get rid of aphids on Acers by myself. I have put the plant in a container, I have took off those bad leaves and to my surprise I saw some new leaves coming as well, I just think what happened here was a combination of hot wheather just one day which was too much for the young plant and the anti aphid stuff which caused problems to the plant. Now I leave it allone in its container and see what next future brings....I am optimistic as it seems the plant will give new leaves and new growth. After when it is a bit bigger I will put it back in garden again.
my red maple has the same problem,it was put in the greenhouse for the winter and seemed to be fine,but it seems to have gone downhill since being put back outside,any ideas?
why you recovered you red maple in the green house?red maple is hardy! probality the hot of green house is the cause.
Thought I was doing the right thing,put all my potted outdoor plants in the unheated greenhouse to protect them from frost,wind etc,they all seem to thriving apart from the maple,although today I have noticed some new leaf buds
The unheated greenhouse would be fine The only problem I would have with that is possibly that I would forget to water I think it will come ok now that it is back in the open
it will certainly be getting enough water today!I did visit the greenhouse most days and water the plants,hope it will be ok
This has been happening to some of my maples, too. Since so many have seen this I have to think my problem is water. We had large amounts of rain and the growth was rapid. Then it stopped raining and we haven't had any for a couple weeks. I've noticed before that there is dieback on the branches later in summer when it's dry, but not in the spring. This spring was so weird, though, with the week of 20 degree weather after everything budded out, I'm just glad they're alive. Kay Dye
Hi all, just a little update about my Acer Palmatum Ueno Yama (1e photo), it seems it is producing new leaves and branches. note: I did cut all dead wood in April, mostly at the end of the branches. I also had problems with Acer Palmatum Katsura (2e photo), when I bought it it was full with new leaves, after a while the leaves were getting brown and shivering, wilting. Also noticed some die back. I think this was mainly caused because when I bought that plant it was just producing new leaves, I directly planted it. I think main reason for this problem was this plant had problems to acclimate and last period we had some heavy rain as well which could also cause these brown leaves. I did nothing, only left the plant allone and see what should happen and suddenly the last week I noticed new red leaves. Also many, many new buds on the branches, I think this plant will do OK now and hopefully will be better next year. At least it has still some months to "recover " Best regards from Jan