I am having problem with my Japanese maples. Help?
July 29, 2010
Question by Christine N: I am having problem with my Japanese maples. Help?
When I buy it , it look great but it look worse every passing year. I keep it under a shade in a extra large pot with premium potting soil and I used organic fertilizer.
Best answer:
Answer by JUSTME
I had one also and did the same thing and then i dug it up and moved it into the sun and now it;s doing much better
What do you think? Answer below!
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strong indirect sunlight out of strong winds not shade …pull the plant out of the pot if the roots haven’t spread or looking brown you potted up into too bigger pot …pot down a couple of sizes
In landscape there is no such thing as the wrong plant but the wrong place. This can mean the wrong climate (Orange Tree in Alaska). In turn a weed is something that is undesirable in the landscape and not a bad plant ( grass in turf versus grass in a flower garden).
A Japanese Maple (JP) can grow in a container. Doing so invites numerous problems. Is the container big enough? Is the drainage adequate? Is the irrigation right? In short the container should be a minimum of half the height of the tree in diameter. There should be weep holes at the base with a minimum of 1-3″ of stone for drainage. The tree will require irrigation based on 3/4 -1″ per week max. It also requires frequent fertilzation and insect controls when in a shaded area.
Premium potting soil is nice. Organic fertilizer nice as well. Container not. This is a tree not a container plant. It need topsoil and not potting soil. It needs full to partial sun (partial in the morning if not in full) to survive and florish. Keep with the Organic fertilizer but be prepared to use a Safer Soap type of product to spray the tree for pests. In fact you would want to spray an Organic Dormant Oil in the spring before leaf growth to reduce pest and disease. You also need to remove any dead growth immediately and disinfect the pruning tool.
Sorry if this is not the answer you were looking for. Get a container large enough to support additional growth over the next two to three years. Mix the potting soil and topsoil at a ratio of 25%potting and 75%topsoil. Make sure the drain stone is in place. Put the container in full sun. Feed the tree in the early spring (outside the dripline), again in mid autum. Hook a water guage to the container to know how much rainfall you have had and water one time a week to adjust. You want the soil to dry out once in awhile to spur feeder root growth.
Good Luck. I am at gjgjobs@yahoo.com
Yes, I know what you mean. The leaf keep burning off, it is not in the right climate. The heat and wind are undesirable.