"shiney" wrote in message
...
I have a young Japanese maple (acer palmatum???) I think. It's about 120cm
tall, and the trunk is only about 1.5 cm thick. As there's quite a lot of
foliage (in a beautiful shape, too), the thing keeps falling over. I've
staked it, but have heard Mark Carmody (on the radio) say that staking
only
weakens trees, and they should develop the strength to stand on their own.
Any other ideas???

I assume it falls over due to a bit of a breeze?
Many people beleive staking is a bad idea, but really it is essential for
most planted trees that are not grown naturally in the spot. i.e. Naturally
grown trees will have a root system that has developed in the same ground
from when the tree was a sedling. A planted tree from a pot will sometimes
tend to fall over, as the root system isn't well established.
Stake the tree with 3 stakes, place evenly (in a triangle) around the tree.
Tie the tree to the stakes quite loosely. So the tree will still move around
a fair bit, but not fall over. This allows the trunk to still become strong.
Staking the tree so it cannot move at all will make the trunk weak.

Another, about 90cm, (an Osakazuki variety) remains upright, but its
leaves
have recently started dying - starting by going brown and papery, then
droppipng off.)

The very little one (purpurea?) is thriving.

What am I doing wrong? Admittedly, there's a drought on, so they're not
getting a huge amount of water (perhaps a good deep soaking once a week).
I
live in Canberra, so they're on quite a clay soil (well mulched/gypsummed
etc)

Are you having unusually warm weather there, compared to normal. I got a
maple bonsai given to me from the blue mountain area. I live on the cost,
where it gets pretty hot. The first summer it did the same as you mention,
the second summer it became adapted.
I would guess it could be the heat, and possibly lack of water. Check the
soil it is in, just before it's weekly watering. If it is dry, try watering
twice a week.

Other than that, can't really think of what else it could be.

Good luck

Any help greatly appreciated.

shiney