Japanese Maple disease?

saunders

hi
I believe my Japanese Maple tree might have a disease. There are white blotches covering most of the leaves. See attached photo. (excuse the quality, it was taken at night)

The tree is young and is very close to an ageing Sycamore.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

Ophiopogon

Its hard to tell from the pic, is there a chance of a day time one?

If not it could be a couple of things I think, is the substance fluffy like or powdery like? I'm between saying it looks like Mealy bug or powdery mildew.

If its either if these a contributory factor to these is plant stress, how is the the tree looked after?

Nonmonotonic

Maples don't like dark damp airless conditions and because of that are susceptible to a variety of fungus infections. Pseudomonas syringae is another enemy. Thought I might find it here but no joy. Maybe its just Powdery Mildew.

saunders

thanks for the feedback. I am attaching 3 more photos.
Suprisingly, the white substance on the leaves does not rub off when rubbed.

Please let me know what you think?
Thanks

Nonmonotonic

Iron Deficiency?

Redwood77

Hey guys good news and bad. The bad news, it is not a Jap maple but a Crimson Sentry maple, - so a much bigger tree. It has a nice conical growth habit however so should be fine for that space.
The good news. It is definitely Powdery Mildew. This variety are particularly susceptible to it. It won't cause any significant damage, just aesthetic, and slower growth.
You could spray it when symptoms first appear with any rose fungicide you can buy in a garden center. Roses get powdery mildew too, and the fungicides often contain myclobutanil which is curative and preventative towards powdery mildew

kylith

I too have been having trouble with my acer. It was grand when I bought it, but after having it at home for a couple of weeks the leaves started to dry out and curl up. I've replanted it in a larger pot in a shadier part of the garden and so far the damage doesn't seem to have gotten any worse, it's even put out some new buds.

This morning I found the dog asleep on top of the pot, wrapped around the tree. I think I'm going to have to build her her own sun bathing platform.

theparish

My acers will die if I don't give them an Iron tonic twice a year.They seem to like a more acidic soil.The bad winters also killed off another 2 I had.

The Garden Shop

Hi kylith,
Your Acer seems to be suffering from a little bit of shock...this can sometimes happens after re-potting, if a plant is in a vigourous growth spurt. It probably needs lots of watering to establish it into its new envirnoment whether it's in the ground or in a container. If you water regularly for a couple of weeks or so it should be fine.A neutral to slightly acidic compost would be ideal to get it off to a good start. I'm afraid the dog might be a bigger issue.

Nonmonotonic

Think the OP needs to do a soil test. Looking closely at picture 2 seems to show other background plant leaves with similar light colour. Even a cheap pH tester kit will give an indication of soil type. BTW if it were Powdery Mildew it would wipe off.

gardenman77

The tree in the pics is Acer Crimson Sentry all right and it is suffering from Powdery Mildew.
This tree is very prone to it and it is just a facet of life when growing this tree.
Spraying a fungicide early is the only way to combat it, but in truth it won't kill the tree and could be left just as easy.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/acplcs4.htm

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gardening-Cured/121518484610150

kylith

The Garden Shop wrote: »

Hi kylith,
Your Acer seems to be suffering from a little bit of shock...this can sometimes happens after re-potting, if a plant is in a vigourous growth spurt. It probably needs lots of watering to establish it into its new envirnoment whether it's in the ground or in a container. If you water regularly for a couple of weeks or so it should be fine.A neutral to slightly acidic compost would be ideal to get it off to a good start. I'm afraid the dog might be a bigger issue.

Thanks for that. I'm keeping it moist and it seems to be doing pretty well.


The dog definitely is a bigger problem, she seems to have adopted that pot as her sunbathing spot, like I said, a platform may be just the thing for her.