Folks

I sent this message to Theo, who asked for a private reply, but since it
bounced at his address, I am just going to post it here.

Brent



Theo

Sorry, this is so late, things are a little busy around here. See comments
below:

At 09:22 AM 6/19/03 +0200, you wrote:
HI


My maple has been repotted in beginning of April and probably I cut
too much roots and washed too much the root ball and made a new mix
that is very drying with leaf mould sand and akadama

Yes, I try to limit or completely avoid root pruning when repotting during
the growing season. Washing out all the old soil isn't a bad practice IF,
it comes out easily, the roots are not disturbed, and you don't do it too
vigorously. I 'irrigate' tighter rootballs. I just keep watering and
watering until the water stops coming out muddy and starts to get clear.
The remaining soil particles are large enough to stay and much new porosity
is added to the remaining root ball, so you get your drainage back. I then
just backfill the voids with new soil. I am still doing this even at this
late date, but the aftercare is important. They must not be heat stressed
afterward, shade, a lot water, humidity, and cool conditions should be
provided.

Since than has pushed out the first pair of leaves as usual
and since over 2 months no growth all is static the leaves are ok but
no elongation on twigs no new eyes opening back in the trunk or
branches .. just very few that do not burst out .. all is just
static!

That's because it is trying to regenerate the roots. What happens is that
the compromised root system does not have the leaf stimulus (hormone) to
promote new shoot forming hormones, so the leaves that open from stored
tissue carbohydrates open but don't grow. They will keep feeding the roots
until the roots are strong enough to begin growing again. When this
happens, then the roots will once again begin sending the shoot hormones
and top growth will start. When you prune both top and roots at the same
time, you really create havoc with this system. That's why I always
advocate doing one or the other but not both root and top pruning at the
same time.

It is a 20 years old 80 cmt straight Deshojojo jap maple
I fertilized regularly with mild fertilizer almost every other
day but nothing happens I do not dare cutting leaves as has been
repotted this year
shoulk'd I defoliate just a part of them to provoke growth ?

Older trees will have even more trouble getting the system working again
because they lack the vigor of more juvenile growth. Do NOT prune under any
circumstances or you will just create a bigger problem. The roots need that
leaf stimulus.

I am perplexed !
thanks for your feed back
Theo

All you can do is wait. New growth may come very late in the season, which
means that it will be quite soft going into winter. So the next drama will
be protecting it from fall freezing weather. You want it to grow as long as
possible to gather strength, but doing so sets it up for damaging freezes.
You should provide a place (outdoors, not in the house) where it will stay
between about 28F and 40F (-2 to +5C) for the winter. It is important that
it be cold so it will go dormant, but not too cold to avoid root damage.




Brent in Northern California
Evergreen Gardenworks USDA Zone 8 Sunset Zone 14

http://www.EvergreenGardenworks.com

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