We planted our Fireglow Japanese Maple just over a month ago and up until this point I haven't really noticed ANY leaves falling off of it. Then today when I walked by it I noticed there were several crispy/curled up leaves on the ground. When I shook some of the branches even more fell out. This isn't a very big percentage of the leaves on this 9-10 ft tree, but this happened abruptly, pretty much overnight.

We live in Tennessee and have been having a relatively mild summer so far... the tree is only in direct sunlight until about 1pm and then is completely shaded from the hot afternoon sun. I was careful to plant the tree so that the top of the rootball didn't get any extra dirt added on top of it and made sure that the root flare stayed exposed so I think I did all that correctly. I check the top of the root ball everyday to make sure that it is just slightly damp and water when needed. I must admit that I do water by filling up the basin and then letting that all soak in... from what I've read I think I need to start watering with a trickle for a longer period of time instead. (I'm always concerned that I'll forget to turn off the water)

Thought I'd post these pictures just in case there is something obviously wrong with it that all of you JM veterans might notice that me as a newbie would miss. (this is my first one!) From reading old posts, my guess is that this is just a bit of transplant stress. The tree is huge and for 30 minute drive home it was laying on its side with a good bit reaching beyond the open tailgate of our truck. We covered it with two queen size sheets tied together to shelter it from the sun and wind.

The second picture shows the dried up leaves... They are randomly dispersed throughout the tree, so it's not just one specific area, but I did notice this branch that I took the picture of looks really scuffed up and it seems that it lost a lot of leaves in that one spot. Maybe it was damaged during planting? I'm hoping you guys tell me that the tree looks great and this small amount of leaves drying up and falling off is no big deal and that I'm studying it too closely again. :)

First picture - overall look of tree; Second picture - close up of crispy/curled leaves