One of the most in-demand landscape trees, the Japanese Maple has a reputation as a temperamental, tender plant, something of a "diva". With multi-colored foliage, ranging from brilliant green to golden yellow to reds & maroons, and distinctive 5-point Maple leaf shape, this tree does not like hot, dry conditions or too much wind. An "understory" tree, it does best with morning sun & afternoon shade. Some trees grow as tall as 30 ft.
This photo (left) shows my 1st attempt; a sapling ordered via Internet & shipped by US mail. This tree was an Acer Bloodgood, the most colorful of the cultivars. He came through shipping in fair condition & responded well to potting & was starting build a canopy, when my own negligence left him out in direct sun for several hours, during a hot spell, late in summer/fall '24. He never recovered.
My lust for one of these signature trees was undiminished, and almost a year later, I stumbled across a deal, advertised by one of the pricier Home & Garden companies..that was Sunday night..Monday morning I drove to their location (20 mi.?) & picked-up the saddest, most bedraggled, drooping young tree you can imagine. The guy at the nursery told me I didn't have to take it..they'd refund my money, but I didn't care about how it looked..I had a Japanese Maple! I'm sorry I don't have any photos, but taking pictures of that was the last thing on my mind.. I let him rest for a couple of days..watered, fed, pruned (all the dead stuff) & he began to leaf-out. This is when I started taking photos.
The foliage continues to grow & is a vibrant green, the tree stands straighter and I've even seen some back-budding on the lower trunk..he seems more than comfortable rooted in his nursery pot..ok..I've got a viable candidate, but I made the decision not to do any major pruning (top or bottom) until winter; this cultivar (Monrovia) is deciduous & should go dormant or semi-dormant this winter ('25-26). What I have been doing is getting rid of extraneous branching & foliage to reveal the "bones" of the tree & as the photos below show, he currently is about 5 ft. tall with a single trunk, splitting about mid-point, one taller & dominant. The goal is to reduce his height about 18 -24 inches & repot (training pot?) ..that will be the plan until further notice.
Oct. 11, 2025 - pruned the "rogue" branch that was competing with the secondary branch, taking the 1st real step towards our goal of turning this reclamation project into one of our "little trees".
Nov. 3, 2025 - tree is continuing to "fill out" & look more & more like a tree..still no sign of the fall foliage..leaves are bright green (these shots don't do it justice)..time to make some decisions about overall strategy for this specimen..whether to attempt shortening the trunk by "layering" or wait & see if he will back-bud..whatever the decision, will wait another 60 days to either prune or layer or both, when he is dormant (this cultivar is deciduous)
Nov. 19, 2025 - Over the last day or so, I noticed that the tree was looking disheveled, but figured it was due to the storm & that JM's don't like being wet & cold. Upon closer inspection, I saw that some of the leaves had discolored tips..in fact, the tips were turning a blue-black color, as you can see in this enlarged photo (left)
I began researching possible causes for this discoloration & learned that it indicates a circulatory problem, possibly root restriction or damage to the roots. Either way, this changes my plan & probably overall strategy for this tree.
Nov. 20, 2025 - Regardless of my long-standing plan to wait until winter & dormancy, it will be necessary to de-pot this plant, today if possible, & take a good, hard look at the roots & the root system for signs of rot, infestation, or constriction due to overgrown or potbound root growth. If there is rot, I will remove the affected portions or treat them if it is an infestation or some sort. Now I have no choice..I'm going to have to re-pot him as a consequence..
He came out of his nursery pot fairly easily, due to still being semi-saturated from the last few days of rain. This plant was NOT root bound..no circling roots, no feeder roots reaching for the surface. But I wanted to get a better look at the roots than just what I could see, so I began removing the compacted soil mix, in order to get a better look at the root ball & to see if I could see anything amiss with the potting mix that it had been growing.
Managed to remove about 50% of the soil..very wet, but not muddy.. what I saw now were the rest of the root ball, & the feeder roots. The mature roots looked normal, but the feeder root growth was all on one side, with a large gap on the opposite side of the root ball.
The only conclusion that I can come to is that perhaps when this plant was potted, a large air space went undetected & created a perfect spot for fungal growth..dark, humid, presence of oxygen.. Since I was going to re-pot, I went ahead & pruned the straggly roots so they were even & re-potted.
Now it's just a "wait & see" as to whether or not this tree can recover, given a fresh start in well-draining potting soil. Additionally, I am foliar-feeding the affected leaves to help them heal the damage done by the fungal infection.
Nov. 23, 2025 - This morning I was not optimistic about how well our JM was doing..he still looked shocked, but no worse than he looked before the re-pot. Luckily we got a sunny, clear day..not too much wind..and hopefully, JM can dry out.(as well as the other trees)
This afternoon, I am really happy with how the JM is recovering. As you can see from the picture, he's standing straight & although many leaf tips are blackened, I don't see where it's advanced or spread, so maybe we've "nipped it in the bud"?
Nov. 26
Last night, I was afraid that I'd be writing about how my Japanese Maple was dying, but he looks much better this morning. I continued foliar-feeding w/ liquid seaweed & he is responding..there's no hope for the infected leaves, but I do see some back-budding lower on the main trunk & those buds do not look infected..keeping my fingers crossed!
Nov. 30
Not much change..infected foliage is not getting any worse..I think the repotting in fresh soil addressed the root (no pun intended) problem, but I don't see any substantial improvement, although there are some new leaves appearing & so far, do not appear to be infected.
My long-term strategy for this tree was to wait for his winter dormancy to repot & prune (he is deciduous), but I'm more concerned with recovery than schedules, right now, so decided to remove the top-most branch in order to lessen the load on the roots.
Reducing the height of this JM has always been necessary to shorten him, but to also possibly stimulate "back-budding" or new growth that is lower on the tree than the current canopy. If we can accomplish that without "layering" the tree (think taking a section out of the lower trunk), we might save months off the schedule for this tree.
Dec. 6
I think the crisis is over & JM is recovering from whatever was causing his leaves to turn black & die-back from the tips..the infected leaves are never going to regrow tips or regain their color,but there is new growth appearing that will replace the discolored leaves that remain & I also see back-budding since the pruning.
Dec. 13, 2025 - Update
JM is "back-budding"..growing new foliage to replace damaged leaves & growing new foliage on areas of the tree that were formerly bare of shoots or leaves (such as the lower trunk). I've begun "helping" the process along by pruning dead &/or dying leaves & will continue to do so.
Dec 31, 2025
Removed the last leaf remaining on this tree, this morning; and hopefully, the last of the diseased foliage. New buds are popping up on both trunks & remaining lower branches, back-budding is well underway & a good sign that this tree is on the road to recovery, again.
If he survives, it will do much to change my mind about how delicate and temperamental the Acer's can be. I've been told that growing them in our hot, dry climate is problematic & I've had the experience of losing my first specimen to heat-stroke, so when this tree almost succumbed to a fungal infection, I really did not expect it to survive, but here he is, beat-up, naked, chopped & all, putting out new foliage..well, this is why we do this..the pure wonder of the will to live.
Feb 15, 2026
Not much change in last couple of weeks..the Acer is still "naked" but has buds on branches (or what will become branches) but no budding evident lower on the trunk (below the "V"). I will try to get a close-up view, but for now, this is what he looks like:
(to be continued)
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