I planted a Japanese Red Maple last year and it did fine. This year the bottom leaves are growing, but at the very top the leaves are all dried and dying. What shoudl I do?
Yes, pics - may be it's the sun, and or the dry air, may be you water it too much or not enough, may be too much fertilization, may be it wasn't planted right, or may be disease. All are possible - pics might help. Also: look through the forum: dying maples are unfortunatly a number 1 topic. May be you'll get some answers there already.
Since it's a Japanese maple pathogenic infestation likely. Otherwise, with trees and shrubs generally heavy watering followed by period of dryness can also result in top dying back to basal shoots. The frequently recommed deep soakings alternating with allowing soil to dry out can produce this effect.
Hi, Ron- so you're saying that alternating and letting the soil go from very wet to dry and back again is bad for the tree - can you say more about what a better practice is? Also: what do you call basal shoots? Thanks. Schusch
