Hi all, this is my first post on here. I’m appreciative for the collective help and wisdom I’ve gleaned as a stalker. However I have a specific need for help/advice on one of my Japanese Maples in my yard. First, a bit of history on this tree and its siblings.

My parents have a gigantic, old, beautiful JM in their back yard that is at least 40 years old and 30 feet in height. It is a simply gorgeous tree. It spawn a number of very vigorous “sucker” children. What I mean by that is that many new, viable trees would spring up from some of the smaller, shallow roots of the large tree. So feeling clever, I hacked a bunch out of the ground and brought them to my house. I managed to keep four of them alive and nursed them along to the point that they seemed big enough and strong enough to go in the ground, so I popped them in. Off they went, and all 4 seemed quite happy with the exception of one. It’s the one I’m concerned about… It has not budded or grown any leaves this spring, and the other three are fully budded and already put on 3-4” of new growth, tons of new branches, etc. etc.

This one is actually the tallest of the four, and receives the same amount of light as one of its successful siblings. It is about 25 feet away from its sibling, and the only difference in its environment is some slightly more compacted soil (all of my yard is undergirded with rock hard red Georgia clay). I did the same amount of amending and mulching for this tree as its nearest buddy. Yet there it sits, buds at the tips ready to open, but without a single leaf to show. All branches are juicy and green.

What could be the problem and what, if anything, can be done to get this late bloomer going? I’m sorely tempting to replace it with a weeping cherry tree…