Japanese Maple disaster!

Callie

I bought a lovely Japanese Maple a few months ago and it's been withering and curling ever since. It all started with the heavy rains over a month ago. Every site I look at only says that they are sensitive - don't over water, don't under water! It's in a large, well drained container. I took it out of the garden and in to a porch and I think I just made it worse.. so I put it back outside. Aaagh! Please can someone give me a general idea of how often to water the thing before it ends up on the compost heap? (if you haven't guessed by now, I'm a complete amateur!)

The Sweeper

Japanese maples like moist, fertile but well-drained soil. Always water container plants from the top, and if their container sits in a water tray, pour off any excess water remaining after 15 minutes. You should never let the soil dry out completely, but if the surface soil is damp to the touch you don't have to water the plant again.

Watering plants on a timetable doesn't take into account the variations of location, weather, rain and so on. On a hot, sunny day with a breeze, plants lose moisture very rapidly. On a humid, overcast day, they don't. You're better off learning to water by how the soil feels and looks.

Maples like a sheltered position with some sunlight, but not direct sun all day. Is it in a windy spot outside? They can suffer terribly from 'scorch' - which is wind burn. They HAVE to be out of the wind.

Any pests visible on it? Aphid infestation can cause wrinkled, stunted leaves. If the trunk has scarring on it, it could be a borer infestation.

You say it's in a container - what was it in when you bought it? Have you potted it into a container that's too large (when that happens, the plant has a small root ball in a lot of soil - if you over water it, the soil becomes waterlogged because it's storing too much moisture and the plant isn't drinking enough of it)? Have you potted it into the wrong soil? (Most tub potting mixes have a relatively neutral PH, but specialist mixes can be more acidic or more alkaline. Peat moss is relatively acidic. Maples like neutral to slightly acidic soil.) If you haven't changed the container since you bought it, is it possible that it's root bound and needs repotting? (You find this out by first checking the drainage holes of the container to see if the root system is peeping out.)

The last thing I can think of is verticillium wilt - a soil-dwelling fungus could have attacked the plant, and infected leaves will appear pale and turn yellow or brown and drop off. That's probably a slim chance though.

Any of that help?