white spot on the leaves

Discussion in 'Maples' started by carl, Apr 7, 2004.

  1. carl

    carl Member

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    Location:
    california
    I recently bought a fireglow from the nursery and found some white spots on
    the leaves after a couple of weeks sitting in my backyard. It is still in
    the pot and the cloth coming from the nursery and I put it in the place
    where I would like to plant the maple later. The location receives morning
    sun and the shades move in after 3-4pm. The spots will eventually "burn"
    through the leaves.

    One observation is that the white spots only appear on one side of the
    maple (east side) and in the lower part of the tree. The top leaves are
    perfectly fine. Also I have a waterfall (in pot) about 6 feet away from the
    fireglow and it is perfectly fine.

    I water both the maples twice a day, more water in the morning and just
    wet the soil in the evening. The container for the fireglow has pretty well
    drainage so I usually give it more water to make sure the soil in the cloth
    receives enough water.

    It would be very appreciated if someone can tell me what the white spots
    are and how I can fix this problem. I am new to japanese maple and
    like this tree very much, I don't want to lose it because of whatever I do
    wrong.

    I've attached a few pictures of the leaves. Pardon me about the quality of
    the picture. I don't have a good camera to take some close up.

    Thanks.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Apr 7, 2004
  2. whis4ey

    whis4ey Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Northern Ireland
    I am no expert, but that doesn't look like a serious problem to me. In wet spring conditions maples can suffer from some leaf blight. I wonder whether or not you are overwatering a little? You could try moving the plant to a different position? The fact that the spots are on one side of the plant only, and low down only, suggests a very localised (possibly wind?, or merely a draught?) condition. I am assuming that you have checked for grubs, insects etc etc.
    Remove damaged leaves if they upset you
    Sometimes you can fuss over a plant too much .... allow it some freedom
     
  3. douglas

    douglas Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    princegeorge b.c
    Any chance you might have used a broadcast spreader near that side of the tree. Maybe fertizer burn?

    regards doug
     
  4. carl

    carl Member

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    Location:
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    Thank you very much for the response. I will keep my eyes on the tree.

    In fact, both of your suggestions might be possible: It was very windy the last
    couple of weeks and I did notice morning mist on the leaves;
    I added plant food (10-10-10) to the tree about 1 week ago.

    I've already reduce the water to the tree and will try to move it to another spot
    and see if it will improve. It's a very nice maple and I am afraid I will ruin it because of
    my ignorance.

    Carl
     
  5. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Hi Carl:

    Just a quick note as I am out of the state for a while.

    I will say that the condition you are seeing is quite common to Fireglow
    and most but not all palmate forms of Atropurpureums in many locations
    in the San Joaquin Valley. You will not lose your Maple because of this
    sun burning condition.

    The burn on the leaves like that in most areas usually means that moisture
    on the leaf was burned by the sun, sun burning if you will. We see it come
    about with overhead waterings in warm to hot weather. An allover (many
    leaves, widespread throughout the plant) condition plus some leaf margin
    and leaf tip burn generally means the Maple did not have enough water
    movement when the leaves were scorched by some hot winds. What
    makes Fireglow unique for us where we are, is that a missed watering can
    also show symptoms of sun burning with the same type burned areas as
    on your Maple but those burns are generally located on the leaves where
    the Maple received the most intense sun and affect many leaves throughout
    the plant.

    Most likely cause of your sun burn is lack of water and it may very well
    have been due to how the Maple was cared for at the nursery. It is not
    unusual at all to see leaves shows symptoms of sun and wind burn a few
    weeks after they are brought home from a nursery.

    Jim
     

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