Japanese Maple is dying??

[aunt2brant]

My grandmother got my mother a Japanese Maple for Mother's Day and it was doing ok until about a month ago...we did not water it for like a week and all of the leaves fell off. we have made a conscious effort to water it everyday, but no leaves.....what should we do? we thought about getting micacle grow spikes to put in the ground around the trunk (which is only about 2" diameter). My grandmother is a Master Gardener and told me to put the water on a drip , which we do for about an hour each day. I am afraid to ask her about it because she paid like $90 for the tree and I don't want her to think that we just killed it on purpose. Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she will come over one day soon and see the leafless tree and who knows what will happen then?

Will the tree come back around? What should we do? Can it be salvaged?

 

[Mamu]

I think the only thing you can do right now is to continue watering. Sounds like the tree has been stressed this usually happens from lack of water.

Most nurseries have a money back offer if the tree does not survive check with the nursery that the tree was purchased at.

Do not fertilize the tree now. Just continue to water. For the first year it's so important to water daily when you plant a new tree, especially during the dry hot summer.

Good luck with the tree and remember water, water, water.

 

[goofy4tink]

sometimes those Japanese Maples can be real survivors....I had one that had been planted in too tight a spot, so we transplanted it. About 3 months after we transplanted it, a huge ash tree came crashing down on it!!! Poor little thing. It was about 5' tall at that point and everyone told me to pull it out and start fresh. Well, I just couldn't bear to do that, so I left it. I pruned it out a bit and took off the severely damaged branches. Yes, it did look pretty awful for awhile. But, now.....5 years later that tree is beautiful. No one can believe it's the same tree.

So, keep watering it and talk nicely to it (that never hurts according to my dad). Hopefully it will gather it's strength and grow. Just goes to show how very important it is to water every day after transplanting. I would also do the drip line for more than an hour a day.

 

[aunt2brant]

Thank you for your replies. I will keep watering it and hope for the best. I have a year in which to return the tree if it dies. Since my grandmother bought it Mother's Day weekend, I still have time to cross my fingers and hope for the best.

When I was a kid, my grandmother gave me a tree to plant and my parents made me water it everyday....I was not happy about that until I saw signs of it growing and changing; then I could not wait to go out and water it. Hopefully, that is what it will be like-water it for a while, then all of the sudden BOOM! a beautiful tree.

I was also going to mention that we tried to break a twig to see if it would break easily and it would not and when we did get it apart, it was green inside. So I am hopeful.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

sounds like it's still alive. Those are such touchy trees. Make sure it's in an area protected from wind if you live in an area of the US that gets winters. Also, if it does get any leaves back, this time of year is horrible for Japenese Beetles. They love Japenese Maples to snack on. Good luck