Advice for maple, leaves shrivelling/curling during fall.

[Jakeem]

I currently live in hong kong, the weather has been getting significantly cooler by the day and windy. I notice my maple has its leaves turned red recently but some of them after turning had either shrivelled or started to curl on the tips. I havent but the tree in harsh direct sunlight. I do notice healthy leaves are starting to drop easily as well. I have been watering once every 1-2 days. Im wondering if its normal for leaves the shrivel up/ dry before falling as its preparing for dormancy. Would it help for me to help defoliate it?

Thank you

 

[HankDio]

I’m pretty certain Hong Kong is in the Norther Hemisphere, and many of us are experiencing Fall as we speak. This is completely normal as the tree diverts energy from leaves and redirects it into the root system for the winter. Sometimes leaves shrivel up before they fall, or won’t fall off for at least some of Winter. It’s okay, you can defoliate if you want to clean it up but they will fall eventually.

 

[Jakeem]

OK! Thank you so much, been worried since its my first maple.

 

[Tieball]

I don’t have a tree like yours. And I’m certain my climate is not exactly like yours. However, on other trees I have that stay outdoors all year, all weather, I don’t remove leaves at this time of the year, even though they're not so attractive and turning to falling off sometime. No science in my reply, but I’ve always believed that the leaves were releasing energy and redirecting that energy down to the roots now. The leaves know the job in autumn…. release the energy, dry up, and get ready to fall off the tree. It’s a normal autumn thing for me.

 

[Jakeem]

I don’t have a tree like yours. And I’m certain my climate is not exactly like yours. However, on other trees I have that stay outdoors all year, all weather, I don’t remove leaves at this time of the year, even though they're not so attractive and turning to falling off sometime. No science in my reply, but I’ve always believed that the leaves were releasing energy and redirecting that energy down to the roots now. The leaves know the job in autumn…. release the energy, dry up, and get ready to fall off the tree. It’s a normal autumn thing for me.

Thank you so much for your advice and intuition. Defs helped me understand maples a little more!