Japanese Maple Sick ? Need Advice

jonto

Hi Folks,

To begin, the fertilizer was Schultz General Purpose 20-20-20 liquid and the normal mix is 1 tsp/1 gal of water for outdoor plants/trees and after re-reading I see it called for 1/2tsp for outdoor potted plants/trees. I used 1/2tsp and poured it on through the soil mix so it should have drained quickly.

The pot has 3 - 3/4" holes that I have screened. I dug down a ways and the roots appear to be OK and the clay does not seem to be breaking up at all. Also, nothing washes out the bottom when I top water.

The forest bark looks to be a mixture of different barks, mostly pine and redwood as seen in Pic2 above.

Thanks for the help.
Jim

Advertisement

agraham

does the spot i circled in your pic seem sunken and discolored?'''it looks like your roots may have some problem and are dieing back.that could have been caused by fertiser.too much water,not enough water or an infection entering the pruning wounds

just a guess

__________________
http://pittmandavis.com/

agraham

sorry,...here's the pic

Attached Images

shaina2 copy.jpg (46.3 KB, 95 views)

TreeBay

That amount of fertilizer shouldn't cause problems. I was wondering if that was some granulated fertilizer on the surface of the soil. Viral/Fungal infection is a possibility. Maples are prone to verticillium wilt, among other problems.

With maples, it's a good idea to disinfect your tools in a bleach solution 10 or 20% bleach in water.

Yes, agraham - those parts look sunken and dead.

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

jonto

Matt and agraham,

The area you circled is just a dis-coloration. The 2 roots coming out of that spot at the soil line are red and shiney and look healthy.

What you see on the surface is pumice and the fired clay cat litter.

I think I may have to make a trip to Fresno and see if I can pick up some Akadama or Turface to replace the cat litter and do a repot just to be sure of things. I also have since come across some lava rock. At that time I can also inspect the roots. I like this tree and don't want to loose it before it even leafs out.

Thanks again.
Jim

agraham

good luck with it

andy

bonsaial1

Hi Jim. I live in Fresno, Ca. I belong to the Hanford Bonsai Society. This would be a worthwhile club to belong to. If you want to send me a PM, I will try to arrange a meeting with you this Sunday afternoon in Tulare. I will be meeting a fellow there to go on south to Mojave and dig Ca. Junipers there.

Anytime you see wrinkles in the skin of a branch that are parallel to it, you can pretty much count it out. The black buds are dead, but the red ones are viable. I would cut off the dead portions and and get rid of them just in case it is a virus or infection. I lost two maples from some sort of blackening of the trunk last year.

Hanford Bonsai Society
Al Keppler

__________________
I been kidding the last seven years.
no.... really!