I use Osmocote Plus and have had good results. I use around a quarter of the recommended dose.

JMs are Japanese maples.

Once in the ground, I don't fertilize my maples. Aphis love the extra long, tender new growth that fertilizer causes. They can disfigure the branches wherever they eat.

We have seven JM's that are planted in the ground now and we don't fertilize them. Most were in pots at our previous home, and we never used fertilizer then, either. They all do well and seem pretty low maintenance. We're in SoCal and all of our JM's are in filtered light under oak trees.

I use Dyna-gro Foliage pro 9-3-6, because it has all the Macro, Micro, and trace elements. I use the Maintenance dose (1/2 tsp/gal in spring and 1/4 tsp/gal summer).

If you fertilize in fall you might promote a flush of growth that will not be able to be hardened off by winter causing same to die off and provide a pathway for disease.

gardengal48 ,stuartlawrence (7b L.I. NY), mblan13, thank you for your info, very helpful to me.

chloebud, Mike McGarvey thank you also for your input. If I were growing them in ground I would do the same, but all of mine are container grown.

Kimberly, enjoy them! I'm such a JM fan. :-)

I am too!

Me three but only in the ground. The Santa Ana winds here destroy anything in a pot.

We were able to keep ours protected from the winds when they were in pots. I was also glad they were in pots when we moved so they could all come with us.

Hoovb, That is gorgeous! Do you know which variety it is?

'Oshio Beni'. It's not much different than 'Bloodgood'

Thanks Hoovb! Its so great ro have red leaves even in the spring.