How does sun affect the color of Maple leaves.

abqjoe

abqjoe

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Just curious: How does the amount of sunlight and the type of sunlight affect the color of Maple leaves? I ask because I recently obtained a Maple locally from a yard with several Maples and all of the Maples on this particular yard have leaves that are lighter green and vibrant. All of said Maples are shaded with shade cloth. All of the Maples on my yard have leaves that are much darker green, thriving, and strong looking. My Maples are on the north side of my yard and are shaded naturally by the big Wisteria vines that hover above them.
Silly question but I have to know:)
 
barrosinc said:
Pic?
Clorosis maybe?
Click to expand...

I can take a pic after work. All are healthy but mine are a darker shade than the one I just picked up. In fact, the Maples I have came to me with the same lighter color green as my new one last year but this year on my yard the leaves are all a darker shade of green.
 
...any possibility the lighter green leaves are younger?

MAX5 mentioned the influence of red leaf cultivars by amount of sunlight in his thread, but it was an autumn colouring...
 
I noticed differences in shape and size, but not colour. Lighter leaves are the young one that have yet to harden
 
Be careful with the new one. When new leaves emerge in the spring, they develop with that sunlight intensity as the expected intensity. So, if they emerge under a shade cloth, they grow according to the light available under the shade cloth. They might grow larger to collect more light, or develop longer internodes as the reach out to find more light. But if suddenly moved to a sunnier location, it's easy for them to get sunburned and scorched as they didn't have any protection. Darker leaves have more "sunscreen" than lighter leaves. Next year, the same tree will probably produce new leaves that are darker, smaller, and have shorter internodes. Because of the greater amount of light.
 
Adair M said:
Be careful with the new one. When new leaves emerge in the spring, they develop with that sunlight intensity as the expected intensity. So, if they emerge under a shade cloth, they grow according to the light available under the shade cloth. They might grow larger to collect more light, or develop longer internodes as the reach out to find more light. But if suddenly moved to a sunnier location, it's easy for them to get sunburned and scorched as they didn't have any protection. Darker leaves have more "sunscreen" than lighter leaves. Next year, the same tree will probably produce new leaves that are darker, smaller, and have shorter internodes. Because of the greater amount of light.
Click to expand...

Well, this tree was under shade cloth at the former owners yard but shaded under Wisteria vines at my house. At my house it probably gets 4.5 hours of direct morning sun and then another 1 hours of late afternoon sun.
 
Lot's of different types of Japanese Maples, some like good sun exposure, some don't. If someone does brisk sales via the internet, they probably have a lot of material "growing in a greenhouse" or some other protected-type area. Having lots of good material AND some way of having "overprotection" in case of extreme weather is just covering your "assests".:D:D:D:D


I'd would think it's just a case of different growing environment. Nothing looks wrong in your photo's. And in your climate, I'm sure they don't mind the shade. Sun at your altitude can be pretty harsh!!:(

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
FWIW I have experimented with light exposure and how does/can affect autumn coloration. The Japanese maple below is the only instance where I was able to dramatically change its color as it relates to light intensities. The two photos were taken years apart. The red coloring was under full sunlight given to the tree starting in early fall whereas the yellow was achieved under more dappled lighting conditions all throughout the growing season. Otherwise, my maples also have nice dark leaves during the growing season.



 
MACH5 said:
FWIW I have experimented with light exposure and how does/can affect autumn coloration. The Japanese maple below is the only instance where I was able to dramatically change its color as it relates to light intensities. The two photos were taken years apart. The red coloring was under full sunlight given to the tree starting in early fall whereas the yellow was achieved under more dappled lighting conditions all throughout the growing season. Otherwise, my maples also have nice dark leaves during the growing season.



Click to expand...

Your Maples are crazy!
 
I have an a. palmatum 'Orange Dream'. It has lots of red, yellow, and orange coloration when emerging. When the leaves are hardened, they are limey green if kept in shade, and yellow in full sun (which makes it quite interesting). I have an a. palmatum 'ukigumo' (floating cloud) whose leaves are generally white but have little dots of green. The dots tend to be bigger on shaded leaves than those in sun but those in sun have a lot more little dots of green and tend to look greener. In fact, most variegated a. palmatums tend to be more colored in full sun that in shade.

Most commonly maples produce red anthocyanin pigment to shade the photocenters when shade adapted leaves are abruptly exposed to full sun - the combination of red and green can make the leaves seem to be darker. This is the case for generic green a. palmatum, 'shishigashira', and 'Sharp's pigmy', and for a. circunatum for example. 'Orange dream' however, gets its yellow from xanthophylls which protect the photocenters by a different mechanism (which is more common and why many conifers turn yellowish in the winter). Anthocyanins and xanthophylls are responsible for most of deciduous trees' fall color (which arises because the chlorophyll is dismantled into a colorless compound). So, one way to produce vivid fall colors is to keep your trees shaded until late summer and then move them to full sun (of course it is always possible that the leaves just go up in flames!).
 
0soyoung said:
So, one way to produce vivid fall colors is to keep your trees shaded until late summer and then move them to full sun (of course it is always possible that the leaves just go up in flames!).
Click to expand...
Have you tried this? I have some tridents under shade cloth. The original leaves got sun burnt before moving to shade cloth in late spring. But was hard pruned and has nice younger leaves still in good condition. We just had a front move in and our long range forecast is for temps to drop below 80F. This was my first year under shade cloth, so I’m not sure when to remove it.
 
I have no idea what JM I have, it had deep red leaves in spring which turned brown-ish-green, but the sun got it and it completely defoliated itself and is now pushing new red leaves again, seems like I’ll have to do a better effort to keep it in the shade or make a plan for les intense sun, even for the mornings
 
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