Goodbye Japanese Maple 1.0 - Welcome Japanese Maple 2.0

 this is exerpted from the last entry for Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) 'Monrovia 1.0 & the first entry for Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) 'Monrovia' 2.0

Throughout May-June, the Acer continued the up-down cycle of leafing-out & then leaf-loss, showing signs of recovery & then regressing. Pruning back seemed to stimulate new growth, but then the damaged roots were just not capable of sustaining the new growth. One side of the "V" seemed dominant, the taller branch & so I reduced the tree to a single trunk, eliminating the competition..it didn't help..

By July, it became obvious to me that he had been exhibiting this cycle over & over during the last year & that it would probably end with the tree slowly withering away, or staging periodic recoveries that failed. The situation called for drastic means & in the case of a deciduous tree, there is no more drastic remedy than to "chop" it. 

A "chop" is a measure of last resort, but is not the same as 'chopping it down'..yes, we're killing the old, diseased or damaged above-ground structure, but giving the roots a chance to recover & because of the miracle of plant regeneration, possibly, grow an entirely new tree.

Aug 1, 2026 

This specimen was saw-cut prox 6" above ground-level; the cut was treated with rooting powder, which helps protect the tree until it heals over. However, I did not expect the tree would survive. Imagine my surprise, a couple of days ago, when I discovered this: 

Whether this"last resort" will be successful, we'll have to wait a couple of years to judge, but for now, the tree survives, in a new incarnation, with our best wishes.

Aug 5, 2026

I am surprised at the speed of re-population & the appearance of foliage..the 'old' plant never generated leaves like these, this quickly.

Aug 7, 2026

The new foliage will soon hide the legacy trunk & at this rate, I think I'm going to have to start thinking about thinning it out. One of the problems with the previous incarnation was that it would initially produce foliage, but could not sustain it; my theory is that the damaged roots could not deliver enough nutrition to feed the foliage.

One of the justifications for "the chop" was to reduce height & span that the root system had to service. All we can do now is to continue to monitor the plant.