My Shidava Gold is showing some leaf burn, and I'm not sure why. Unfortunately it seems to be getting worse. There are no other symptoms with the plant, it's just that most of the leaves are showing this burning. I also have a Winter Flame which seems to have the same problem, though not as bad. I wonder about the plants though...I don't want to say where I got them (online seller). But though these plants are supposed to be on the short side, these were already about 3 feet tall as "new" grafts. The internodes are quite long too. I have these potted up in 1G size, but they are really light. I just wonder if these have been artificially pushed with fertilizer, and the root system cannot support the size of the plant...
Your theory could very well be correct. I've had the same problem before with artificially "pushed" plants. The fact that the pots are really light is not a good sign either. Worn-out soil and overfertilization is a sure recipie for stress. I would re-pot into a nice organic potting mix, making sure to wash out most of the original soil and any fertilizer beads you see.
That is good advice. I find that most of the possible causes of leafburn in container plants (too much fertilizer; salt buildup; poor drainage; soil staying too wet; soil not holding enough moisture) can be cured by replacing the growing medium.
Oh...to clarify, the plants came shipped in very small pots (essentially those 4" nursery pots), and it was mostly roots when I repotted it. I used a good potting mix when I put them in 1G pots...the same for all my plants, which all seem to thrive in it. I guess I could try again to repot them, but I'm not sure it would do much. Could I try to cut them back to a smaller size, and see if that helps?
Did you leave the original soil on the rootball? Could have been loaded with slow release fertilizer pellets, and/or a completely different texture to the new soil.....just a thought. I prefer not to prune young maples if possible, I find they need all the leaves they can get, but if the top seems out of proportion to the roots then maybe that is the way to go. Another thought, did they look as if they had been growing in the 4" pots for a while or as if they had been root pruned and shoved into a smaller pot to save shipping weight? If the latter then I would definitely prune them.
Yeah...I just repotted it with the original soil, though it was mostly roots, and not much soil. As to root pruning, I don't think so. I just think this supplier mass produces these plants and perhaps they push them to get more, and bigger plants more quickly. I have gotten some good plants online, but I guess they aren't all great. I'm going to stick to buying my plants in person from now on. I'll see what I can do with these two, perhaps they will turn around.
