Sick Maple Dissectum Garnet, help with care

[Frankk]

Hello everyone and thanks for the valuable advice!

I am writing for help with a Dissectum Garnet Maple that I have potted on the terrace and has been having some problems lately.

It was transplanted in April of this year and was fine for a while with no signs of wasting away.
It is positioned in the shade to avoid making him suffer too much from the heat of the city (Rome).
He gradually changed the color of the leaves from dark red to various shades of green.

At a certain point some leaves dried partly on the tips, and I attributed the problem to being too hot.

Lately some more or less light spots have appeared on the leaves and are also falling somewhere (I attach photos).

Please help me to understand if he actually has a disease and how I can save the plant ... Can I hope that it will blossom again in spring?

Thank you so much to those who will help me.

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

Interesting. I'm not experienced with maples but it reminds me of nutrient burn. You said it happened after it was transplanted and the colour of the leaves became more green. Could it be too much nitrogen in the growing mix perhaps I wonder? The leaves are fragile and unless i'm mistaken it appears to start at the tips.

I'm not sure if these species are sensitive to too much chemistry but it's worth considering what you used when transplanting I think.

If this is what it is then the cannabis community maybe a place to look for a correct method or solution as they tend to see a lot of ridiculous over promotion and use of nutrients to try to promote bud weight.

Flushing through with water would be generally the basic fix for that. But first it's worth considering if the problem could be overwatering instead or not enough air flow.

Other than or perhaps maybe even as well as nutrient burn it could be using water faster than is being provided so a bigger root ball/more water/mulching may help as you also said it had problems after april and you thought it could be too hot!

I am not familiar with diseases of maples but if there is one present it could even be a secondary symptom caused by the other initial problem/s.

I hope you manage to get it sorted out they are indeed a lovely tree.

 

[NigelJ]

Unlikely to be nutrient burn. Probably physiological rather than disease.
Japanese Maples are prone to tip burn, the more divided the leaves the more prone to this they are. Cause is low humidity and the plant is unable to transport water fast enough to the leaf ends. Hot weather, low humidity will cause this as will drying winds.
So cool, partial shade and keep the humidity up around the plant, water as normal.
If the shade is too deep and permanent then the leaves will green up as the plant tries to catch as much light as possible.
Personally I think Rome is too hot and too dry for this finely divided Japanese Maple to be happy.

 

[Frankk]

Thank you very much for your reply... much appreciated!
The tree is loosing its leaves... I have used a product against plant mites as I suppose it got infested...

I am trying to save this tree, I hope to see it sprout in spring....

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

Thank you very much for your reply... much appreciated!
The tree is loosing its leaves... I have used a product against plant mites as I suppose it got infested...

I am trying to save this tree, I hope to see it sprout in spring....

Maybe you could increase humidity by placing other potted plants around it that are more local to you're conditions, like creating a micro-climate area.

 

[NigelJ]

The tree is loosing its leaves... I have used a product against plant mites as I suppose it got infested...

I don't think it has an insect pest. Probably shutting down early for the winter.

 

[Frankk]

Here is an update:
The tree started to sprout again at the end of August. Probably the cure and the climate had some effect.

Now is has a good amount of new leaves and a few new small branches.

Recently (in the last few days) a few leaves started to suffer again (see pictures)... What other problems can be this time?!?!?

Thank you again

 

[cpp gardener]

It's doing what they do when conditions aren't what they prefer, cool and humid. They're also called Mountain Maples since that is where they usually grow. You don't have mites or insects; you have Rome weather. It will go dormant in a couple of months and resprout in the Spring and do it all over again. They look great in the Spring and gradually look worse over the Summer until they go dormant.