We have 2 Osakazuki's, and one of them looks terrible. For starters the entire tree never went green this spring/summer. The bottom turned green, but the top stayed red. Then the leaves at the top of the tree started to go crispy. Now the crispiness has spread downwards and the nice green leaves have become fewer and fewer. I contacted the Nursery we purchased it at 2 years ago and they thought it was a watering issue IE the tree was not getting enough water. We checked the inground sprinkler heads and as it turns out it does appear that other plants were blocking the osakazuki from getting water so we have been deep watering it over the past few weekends. Also an adjacent azalea looks a little underwatered too. I am not seeing any improvement in the osakazuki, if anything it looks worse. The nursery says not too worry, will very likley come back fine next year. Anybody experience this before? Help!!
Sounds pathenogenic. Two infestations of Japanese maple cultivars that are discussed frequently are verticillium wilt and bacterial blight (Pseudomonas). If you look on the internet for those you can see if either appears to fit what you have there.
I do not think it is a watering issue, a Japanese maple in the ground in Victoria BC would require some complementary watering only in case of extreme drought (i.e.: 3-4 weeks of heat and no rain). Are branches and twigs turning black?, I agree it is pathogenic and there is nothing you can do about it other than cross your fingers and hope the tree will fight and stay alive. Gomero
Well we did have a very hot and dry July with no rain for at least 30 days. Definately not typical... Nothing has turned black though it's extremities are not as green as it's trunk. The leaves are almost entirely brown and crispy. Hoping for the best....
Looks like black streaking on the bark of major branches is visible in the first picture and (maybe, hard to be sure at distance) in the third picture. It is not always clear whether the pathogen causing a Japanese maple's bark to turn a black color is the primary cause of the problem or an opportunistic infection taking advantage of reduced resistance and branch dieback caused by poor root health, usually related to excess moisture for a long enough period to drown a portion of the root system during winter or early spring.
Anybody think I can do anything to help the tree? Dig it up? Cut any branches back? Or do I just sit back and hope for the best? Thank you all for your responses!
