What is happening to my Dwarf Japanese Maple?
Question:Two weeks after getting it home, still in the pot, something started nibbling at the edges of the leaves. I saw a tiny, green, furry looking bug. Okay, so that's probably affids.
I sprayed it. But now lots of the leaves are curling & brittle at the edges. Did I over spray? I am giving it plenty of water.
Answers:
Could be a few things:
If you sprayed while the tree was dry, then it soaked up too much insecticide which affected the leaves - if that is the case, then just make sure you water a few hours before you spray next time so that the tree has enough time to get that water into the leaves before you saturate with an insecticide.
If that is not the case, then it sounds like root rot. My clue is that you say you are giving it plenty of water. We do not water our Japanese Maples in their pots but once a week. It has been in the 90's here for over 3 weeks. They like for their soil to be moist, but not saturated. If you think this is the case, then you might want to back off on the watering. If you do not see any significant improvement in the new growth, then you may want to return it. A lot of times a Jap Maple can not recover from root rot. Hope this is not the case with yours. If you have planted it, then try digging it up and replanting at a shallower depth to help keep it's feet from sitting directly in water. Trees prefer to be planted too shallow rather than too deep.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Japanese maples are delicate plants until the become fully grown... they are sensitive to some poisons...
in the nurseries and warehouses the bugs live on the plants and because it's nice and cool they are lethargic and happy, but when you bring it home to where it's warmer and drier the bugs get all stressed out so they reproduce more and eat more, which means they're eating the plant. But the tree was infested before you bought it. They're not aphids, but I forget the name. I used an insecticidal soap, but it was too late. The tree was so overtaken by the critters all ready that there was nothing I could do.
Take the poor tree back and get a refund and shop somewhere more reputable.
And I think you're pretty.
be careful. don't over water. I would never spray a tree with any kind of insecticide. I think allot of the advice you have gotten so far is wise, so consider this a mere anecdote. Japs are extremely sensitive. So do more research before you use insecticides again. You can also counteract what the bugs are doing by putting pellets around the base of the tree that leech into the soil slowly every time you water for fertilization. You can find these many places and the directions are on the bag.
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