Mixed up maple. What's going on?

Kazoo

Here are some pix of my year old air layer. The already grown leaves are just fine. It's not making any new ones and the ones it did make a few weeks ago are all withered. (a few are just plain pale and stunted)
I turned over the pot and see only one white root. Plopped it back in without disturbing the ball. The balance of the roots just look ....dormant. Dark, but not wet or rotty looking. They smell fine. The tree is not USING water, so it's not getting any except when it is fairly dry. Any watering lasts a loooonnnnggg time. Like 4-5 days.
It is situated next to another Palmatum that is doing fine, but is 10-15 years old. However.....it ..... had the same symptoms last year and I potted it into a large pot and then returned it to the bonsai pot this year. No root pruning on the older one that is doing fine.
We had some wind and I moved the lil one to a lower shelf. It gets sun till maybe 9 AM and then shade. I tried it in NO sun at all but saw no change.
It was 106 here yesterday and has been exceptionally hot after a wet WET winter and virtually NO spring. Predicted to be HOT for a spell now.

Any ideas? Would a ...NO...Nitrogen fertilizer be any use to the roots? So far have done nothing except vary the water and location.

Attached Images

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