is my Japanese maple waking up too early?

AndyWilson

Hi all, normally i wouldnt post something like this but... I found a Japanese maple which is a very difficult tree to find in South Africa and trunk chopped it and began to form it for the next gro season. We are in the middle of winter here and it has just started to push new growth, now as we are still in the middle of winter i am just wondering if i should just leave it or try to force it back into dormancy.

If the question is stupid please say so, its the only way i will learn
Thanks in advance, Andy

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bandbchute

Hey Andy,

It's Acer palmatum - Japanese Maple... your abbreviated name for it is actually an insult to the Japanese people... stemming from many years ago during times of war.
Leave the tree alone. If it pushes growth and gets snapped by cold, it will wither, but the dead foliage will fall and be replaced by new.

Good luck with your tree!

Cheers!
Brian

AndyWilson

Thanks for the heads up, the abbreviation is what is on the lable of the plant itself not mine! and if any offense is caused i offer an apology, the last thing i mean to do is insult anyone.

Thanks for the reply. I have just realised that common sense was evading me, the tree wants to start growing and i am going to let it, and just take extra precautions against frost. I do have a commercial frost cover that i am using. Thank you once again. After rereading my post i realised that i should probably never force a tree to do something it doesn't want to do!

legatoistheman

Bandbchute i'm sure that Andy didn't mean any harm when he abbreviated the name. It's not uncommon for people to abbreviate names of things. It is the way the abbreviation is used and in what context that it becomes derogatory.

Please take that into account, as I am quite sure he used it in the context of abbreviation and not defamation.