Late fall maple care help

[stewarjm192]

I have a small Shohin Japanese maple. It was repotted this year, and never really recovered, it was very often overwatered and that prevented a lot of its foliage from fully developing, it tried to push all year, and would push out a leaf or two, very small, that would wilt and die. It’s trying to do so again, even though it’s late September, should I greenhouse it untill it gets a good growth push, then slowly acclimate it back to outside? Any thoughts?

Photos included at this link

https://imgur.com/a/KaxAV8p

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Not a great situation.

Start off with easing way back on the water. The nascent leaves the maple has aren’t going to pull hardly any water. So if it’s watered like a thriving tree, the chances of root rot are very high. Surprised if doesn’t have it right now.

When you do water, add 2 TBSP 3% Hydrogen Peroxide / QT of water. Likely the media only needs misting to just wet it.

One thing it would be good to know is your location and USDA zone so we can get a handle on what the winter entails for this tree. Please tap your icon on top of the page, then tap account details, scroll down and enter your approximate location and USDA zone.

It’s likely this tree could be greenhoused safely for one winter.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[stewarjm192]

Not a great situation.

Start off with easing way back on the water. The nascent leaves the maple has aren’t going to pull hardly any water. So if it’s watered like a thriving tree, the chances of root rot are very high. Surprised if doesn’t have it right now.

When you do water, add 2 TBSP 3% Hydrogen Peroxide / QT of water. Likely the media only needs misting to just wet it.

One thing it would be good to know is your location and USDA zone so we can get a handle on what the winter entails for this tree. Please tap your icon on top of the page, then tap account details, scroll down and enter your approximate location and USDA zone.

It’s likely this tree could be greenhoused safely for one winter.

cheers
DSD sends

Im 5a/b here in upstate ny. Part of the reason I moved it to the grow tent with the tropical trees was to protect it from rain, as that’s the only water it’s been getting the last month or so

I’ll keep it in the inside grow tent for the winter

 

[KikurageOtomo]

Going into dormancy without having built any vigor during the grow season is definitely a concern, If the greenhouse is something that you keep sufficiently warm all winter it could be worth the gamble to deny it a dormancy in the hopes of it convalescing. It does seem odd that it hasn't bounced back following a re-pot though, have you checked if the drainage holes are clear or if there are air pockets in the medium?

 

[stewarjm192]

Going into dormancy without having built any vigor during the grow season is definitely a concern, If the greenhouse is something that you keep sufficiently warm all winter it could be worth the gamble to deny it a dormancy in the hopes of it convalescing. It does seem odd that it hasn't bounced back following a re-pot though, have you checked if the drainage holes are clear or if there are air pockets in the medium?

I think theres a few factors playing into this tree never really taking off and being able to push new growth.
The repot I did was a little later than I should have done, I did very little root work and figured it was in need of it so it would be overall better for the tree.
My first season last winter with a “greenhouse”, a hand built structure wrapped in 6mil construction plastic, yielded good results at first, with plants coming back quicker and with more vigor than before, however, it got hot pretty quick in there, which fried out a handful of beautiful larch Forrest’s I had. So the “great fry-ening of 2022” probably didn’t help this maple.

The leaves it had in spring, which was a full compliment, slowly started to wilt and die off, with very little leaf from mid July till now. The water mobility was very slow, but I was still trying to figure out if the leaves had died because of the heat or water mobility.

I think I’m going to take my chances with it in outside greenhouse , I will lay down some heat mats and place this on top of one to prevent the roots from freezing