Hey guys, My Eskimo Sunset Japanese Maple has been in the ground for 3 years and has been doing well. The tree gets full sun from the morning until about 1:30 in the afternoon and then it gets dappled light. This spring I recently noticed that several leaves have wilted. I can't recall if the tree has done this in the past. Does the tree look okay or is there a problem? I also notice some white coloration on the tree trunk. Is that anything? Thanks.
Pretty! I think it's OK, sometimes caterpillars or small borers can damage petioles and cause local issues like that, and it can be difficult to see the damage. I would cut off the wilted leaves to clean (meaning turgid) stems, as a precaution. The rest of the plant looks healthy. Mine is in a windy spot -- well almost everything is in a windy spot here! -- and sometimes there's a little breakage that causes similar issues. But let us know if you continue to see more wilt, and maybe take a close up of the stems where the wilt begins. cheers, -E
Hey guys, the tree's condition continues to get much worse. Many leaves have lost their color and have fallen off the tree. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I think I see signs of maple petiole bore in photo 1 bottom just right of center, curling leaf with bulge in petiole with pink/purple coloration around the bulge. One way to check is get a razor blade and set leaf and petiole on a solid surface. Between the leaf and the bulge in the petiole cut the petiole letting the blade do the work (sometimes it helps to roll the petiole as the blade slowly cuts into and through the petiole, taking extra care not to crush it). If the petiole is hollow, you have petiole bores. Clean up all falling leaves and stems to keep larvae from spreading to the soil and coming back next year. In the past 5 years I have noticed these bores are not limited to sugar maples. I have found them in Acer shirasawanum and found 1 in my Acer palmatum that is in contact with the Acer shirasawanum. Here is a PDF about maple petiole bores. Curling and yellowing leaves can be a sign of too much water or not enough water (potassium deficiency). Get a 6" spike and work it into the roots downward. If only the first couple inches are moist but it is dry below, then your tree needs water. If the spike reveals total saturation or standing water at the bottom the tree is getting too much water. Most of the time this time of year it's very dry inside the root ball and rainfall is running off and not saturating the inner root ball. If this is the case work the spike into the root ball at the 12,3,6,9 o'clock positions and give the tree a slow deep watering. I have found that this is not just a problem with balled and burlap trees but also container grown trees are prone to this problem as well especially in larger container nursery trees. If the soil is moist and not dry or overly saturated, then check the leaf veins. If the newly turning leaf is yellow with green veins then it could be iron deficiency or other micronutrient deficiency. Get a soil test. If you don't have means to test, consider an iron treatment watered into the roots like ironite. Lastly if all else does not pan out it may just be growing pains as the tree gets established. Sometimes it can take up to 5 years before these trees become fully adapted to their new environment.
A hideously ugly cultivar even at the best of times, let alone when diseased - I'd just get rid of it and take the opportunity to plant something more interesting in its place :-)
Hey, Michael, that's so mean. SLR2009 seems to like his tree, as do a couple of the respondents here, and surely it does a nice job of brightening up a dark corner. And it makes it hard to appreciate your point that for the effort to revive a tree with only three years invested in it, it might be worth starting over. And it might still be worth figuring out what the problem is, so that the same problem would not happen with a replacement tree.
This is obviously a very desirable tree as its popularity attests. However there is a group, in which perhaps Michael proudly counts himself, who simply don't like variegated plants. We can take his "contribution" :) in the humorous spirit in which is is no doubt intended. Anyway the tree is probably fine, variegated sycamores don't like too much sun and heat, and almost always look this way around this time of year. This is exacerbated by the fact that the tree isn't fully established. There's nothing much to do for it this year. You could try a systemic insect killer if they still sell those there.
We have recently used this new neem designed for hydroponics. Instead of topical application, you water it into the roots systemically. This is good because oil sprayed on foliage this time of year will result in severe leaf damage. You need systemic control which this will cover most pest and disease problems. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I1O7YQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 We usually don't recommend products without seasons of results. But in this case I would recommend it based on your needs and our good results using it on our collection of maples this season. Please note this is not off the shelf neem oil. It's a special formula that allows it to be mixed into water for hydroponics. Most oils separate from water. This formula allows it to become water soluble so that it is diluted and absorbed by the roots. Again, I stress not to buy a pure neem oil product to water into your roots. I am recommending a very specific product for this type of application. My wife said our local home Depot sells this brand, so you may find it locally if you are not a fan of online shopping.
There's a hypocritical situation about neem oil in France: it is forbidden to sell it as a fungicide or insect killer, but you can buy it as a cosmetic product : 1 litre for 17 € or so, which can be used for 50 litres of diluted product for treatment against various diseases and insects. Thus, organic farmers buy it, and use it the way they like ;-) I've heard a lot of praise from bonsai enthusiasts.
I checked the soil and it felt a bit dry so I gave it a good soaking of water. Do you think it will die? What happens if all the leaves fall off the tree?
Hi SLR, I don't think the tree will die. This particular sycamore (Esk Sunset) likes a little more water than most of them. So watering some more won't hurt it. However this late in the season, be careful not to overwater: the soil should be able to dry out between soakings. This is not a species that likes wet feet. It is completely normal for a stressed or recently planted (which is the same as stressed) sycamore to lose it's leaves in September. We have several here which have lost leaves already because of drought, and these are well established trees. I'm not concerned for their long-term welfare. If the leaves drop, the tree will go dormant and leaf out again next spring. So long as the buds are green. If the buds turn brown, the tree is dying back and you will potentially need to prune. But I don't think that's going to be a problem for you. Cheers, -E
Thanks for the info. The buds are now brown on the tree. Is this color normal for this variety in the winter?
The buds may sometimes be a brownish-purple. If they are brown-brown, then you may be in trouble. If the branchlets look dried out, this is another sign of dieback. Are all the buds the same color, or are there better looking ones further down the stem? I need some closeups of buds, branchlets, main stems to say more. But from the original pictures, I would be very surprised if it was in really serious trouble. This said, slow dieback can cripple a variegated sycamore maple.
Well the main tree is dead except for a branch at the very bottom of the trunk. The main tree never developed leaves this spring. Do you think it died from Verticillium wilt or was it drought related?
Very sorry to hear that. The pattern of dieback didn't look like verticillium to me, but once these sycamores start to have problems they can be really difficult to get to recover. So even if it was a combination of drought, winter cold and late spring, it's probably time to pull it and start again. I'm surprised, I didn't think it looked that bad... but it's easy to be fooled by a photo, for sure.
Hi, I planted a new Esk Sunset in the fall of 2017. Recently I noticed that the leaves loop floppy. Does this look normal?
A striking tree that will get much bigger than a Japanese Maple and every bit as beautiful in spring. Methinks the protester doth reap sour grapes...
Is it wind that's causing the underside of leaves to show or is that what you are talking about? If it is what your talking about (no wind blowing some of the leaves) then the only thing I have seen in my area that causes curling is maple petiole bore. If you cut the petiole or leaf stalk open (lengthwise with razor blade/exacto knife, thin sharp blade) and it's hollow, then maple petiole bore is the problem. (Sometimes you will see a small tiny dark bump, but not always) For me, I usually don't see it too often, but when I do, it's typically in June or early July would be sooner in warmer climates or a early/warm start to Spring. If test leaf petiole is hollow, then remove other curling leaves and throw away. Next year's bore needs to fall to the ground (in dead leaf) in order to come back next year. This is why we want to pick it off and put in trash to limit or eliminate the activity for next year. Let me know. Also, @emery is my fall back when it comes to Acer pseudoplatanus. I have some experience but not as much as I do with Acer palmatum, japonica, shirasawanum, ect.
My impression from the start was that the specimen originally asked about here had simply been allowed to dry out. However the optimum would have been to ask the nearest USDA Cooperative Extension Service branch office about it. Because they should have been able to determine if any pathogens were involved.
These have not been easy for me to grow. The photos are of #3. Numbers 1 & 2 didn't make it for the same old reason: I have no idea.
Hi, my tree has been doing well till around August when leaves started browning and falling off. The buds currently look purple green, is that normal? I make sure it gets water when the soil is dry which is about once week. It's was in the 80's every day in August. Thoughts? Here's the way it looks now:
