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:
Mar 20
These are the first "true" leaves on the Acer; what you cannot see well from the photo are the buds populating both of the 2 main branches & sub-branches.
I am trying to keep him out of direct sun, at least during the hottest hours, keeping in-mind, the JM is an understory tree in the best of circumstances, but I'm also aware that many people have them in their yards in this semi-arid environment.
April 2
The JM is "leafing-out", replacing the leaves that survived the die-off before dormancy & back-budding on the remaining lower branching & trunk.
Now I can start thinking about how to take care of this little tree & shaping, pruning & styling him over the next few weeks, while doing my best to keep him healthy & alive in our semi-desert environment. Some plants just refuse to die, even though in similar circumstances, the Acer's are known as tender plants, our Acer continues to surprise me.
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| April 5, 2026 |
