Help with this leaf dropping problem

21 years ago

I understand that "too much/too little water" has often been cited as a possible explanation for brown spots and brown margins on JM leaves...but what might cause the entire leaf, and entire tree, to turn brown & crispy & start dropping the dead leaves in the middle of summer?

It's not dead, because the tree is swelling buds and pushing out new leaves to replace the old ones. But 99.9% of all of the original spring growth has turned brown.

I can understand a few of the leaves getting spots or brown margins from a slight watering mistake -- but what might cause the whole tree to do this over each entire leaf surface, while not killing the tree itself?

It is in a container (probably about 12-15 inches wide and deep) with good drainage -- the water seeps out of the holes at the bottom after a good watering. I water it regularly (every couple of days). Would too much water produce this nasty reaction?

Would too much Miracid produce this type of result from "shocking" the roots? My magnolia did a similar thing (browning).

Thanks

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Comments (4)

xman
21 years ago
bstew,

I have the same problem. My crimson queen and viridis, tamukeyama are getting the crisp brown leaves starting last month. These are in well drained containers on my patio and get just a couple of hours of morning sun. Last year all the leaves turned crispy and fell off, atleast this year its only a few leaves till now. My watering schedule is similar to yours. I am just wondering if watering every couple of days is still too much, but I do not know if overwatering will cause the leaves to brown and fall off.

xman
nobreyner
21 years ago
Xman I think your plants are more established in their spots and are less prone to leaf burn. If that is the case you would have fewer leaves crisp next summer. I myself have a Waterfall, Osakazuki, Kamagata, Orangeola and a Fireglow on the way. So far I water them once every other day, and they seem to do well. I bought a moisture meter (thanks for the suggestion Layne) at a local Lowes that has a scale of 1(dry) to 4(wet) and try to keep my trees at 2 and not quite 3. My Kamagata seems the most stressed, and lost four or five leaves, but then there are three or so new leaves on the way.

Bstew being a fellow texan myself it can be daunting to grow maples with 100 degree temps and oftentimes up to 100 percent humidity, but it can be done! From what I've read in this forum Japanese Maples have a second set of leaves ready to bud up when it loses leaves around this time. This seems to be perfectly normal. I just googled Miracid, and it is fertilizer for acid loving plants? I think I killed my afore mentioned Oshio Beni, by adding four or five granules of azalea plant food and it died within two weeks. In short that may be too much fertilizer. Maples are very light feeders and can often go with one light feeding a year. The roots cannot handle it all.

I'll post the Moisture meter I've been using a little later.
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nobreyner
21 years ago
The moisture tester is the Rapitest mini moisture tester

Here is a link that might be useful: Picture and short description of the tester
gomero
21 years ago
One fairly common cause of leaf burn and leaf drop is too much fertilisation.
Watering requirements vary considerably according to the local weather. With a reasonably draining substrate it is hard over-watering maples in pots.
regards

Gomero