I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

In article ,
(paghat) wrote:

I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

hi paghat-

I have 11 J.maples in my garden and one of them (a lace leaf that was
here before i was) has always had some clinging dried leaves through the
winter. They fall off when the new leaves knock them out of the way in
the spring. This year, though, I have another one - a very small one -
that also has a few dried leaves still hanging on it. I was just
worrying about it yesterday. It went through an otherwise-normal fall
color, but it never held any leaves through the winter before.

I hope someone else will chime in, but I'm betting it's nothing to worry
about. Mine's budding up, too, so I think it's fine. Maybe there was an
unusual dearth of wind last fall. Heh.



BTW, my little black swan beech is budding up nicely, too... whoo hoo!

sam
z/8
pnw

In article ,
(paghat) wrote:

I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

hi paghat-

I have 11 J.maples in my garden and one of them (a lace leaf that was
here before i was) has always had some clinging dried leaves through the
winter. They fall off when the new leaves knock them out of the way in
the spring. This year, though, I have another one - a very small one -
that also has a few dried leaves still hanging on it. I was just
worrying about it yesterday. It went through an otherwise-normal fall
color, but it never held any leaves through the winter before.

I hope someone else will chime in, but I'm betting it's nothing to worry
about. Mine's budding up, too, so I think it's fine. Maybe there was an
unusual dearth of wind last fall. Heh.



BTW, my little black swan beech is budding up nicely, too... whoo hoo!

sam
z/8
pnw

I have two maples in the front yard here in the SF Bay Area - a large green
and a smaller red. The red never seems to drop its leaves in fall...those
dried leaves are still hanging when the new leaves bud out in spring. It is
a healthy tree, albeit very slow growing.


"paghat" wrote in message
news
I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

I have two maples in the front yard here in the SF Bay Area - a large green
and a smaller red. The red never seems to drop its leaves in fall...those
dried leaves are still hanging when the new leaves bud out in spring. It is
a healthy tree, albeit very slow growing.


"paghat" wrote in message
news
I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

"paghat" wrote in message
news
I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

As you have noticed, this past season was a tough one for Japanese maples in
our climate and many have suffered some dieback, most of it slight. The
thing with the leaves has a relatively simple (and harmless) explanation.
Most of the Puget Sound area experienced a sharp freeze very early in the
fall, early October as I recall. This came before many trees in our area had
fully changed color and before many leaves had started to fall - the leaves
actually froze on the trees and have remained to a large extent. It happened
with several of my maples and with a smoke bush that held onto its leaves
until unnaturally late December. Winter winds have removed most of them by
now, but often the very twiggy growth of J. maples, specially the smaller
laceleaf forms, catches and retains the foliage.

As long as you notice the buds swelling, you should be OK. The "sudden death
syndrome", aka verticillium wilt, usually doesn't manifest itself until the
active growing season, with either select branches that fail to leaf out or
visible wilting of entire branches. Not necessarily very 'sudden' also - it
can be a gradual decline, but in either case, I doubt that is a problem you
need to worry about if you see buds swelling.

pam - gardengal

"paghat" wrote in message
news
I'd welcome any opinions or predictions about one of my maples which I've
worried about since late last autumn. I'd read about "sudden death
syndrome" in Japanese maples, & worried I was going to experience this
when the usual brilliantly red autumn colors were a grubby rusty brown,
then all the leaves dried out very suddenly on the limbs without falling
-- even right this minute in March, some of last year's dead leaves cling
to the branches. In four years this never happened before; it always had
leaves as red as a red crayon, then they fell off before they even lost
the bright color.

I watched the tree through the winter with a feeling of great sadness,
thinking it might be dead. But now it has new buds all over it, proving
that after all it's not dead.

Last year we had some very hot droughty weeks in summer, even a few
record-breaking days during a heatwave. The tree didn't seem to mind --
until it's poor autumn performance, when it was nice & rainy. I still
worry it may be a doomed tree, because I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.

Anyone experience anything similar? Does the behavior suggest a specific
problem I could do something about, or guard against in the future, or is
there nothing to be done, or am I over-worrying or what? I was frankly
preparing myself to admit it was dead, & now that its budding for re-leaf
I have my hopes up for it.

-paghat the ratgirl

As you have noticed, this past season was a tough one for Japanese maples in
our climate and many have suffered some dieback, most of it slight. The
thing with the leaves has a relatively simple (and harmless) explanation.
Most of the Puget Sound area experienced a sharp freeze very early in the
fall, early October as I recall. This came before many trees in our area had
fully changed color and before many leaves had started to fall - the leaves
actually froze on the trees and have remained to a large extent. It happened
with several of my maples and with a smoke bush that held onto its leaves
until unnaturally late December. Winter winds have removed most of them by
now, but often the very twiggy growth of J. maples, specially the smaller
laceleaf forms, catches and retains the foliage.

As long as you notice the buds swelling, you should be OK. The "sudden death
syndrome", aka verticillium wilt, usually doesn't manifest itself until the
active growing season, with either select branches that fail to leaf out or
visible wilting of entire branches. Not necessarily very 'sudden' also - it
can be a gradual decline, but in either case, I doubt that is a problem you
need to worry about if you see buds swelling.

pam - gardengal

I'd never before noticed any
Japanese maple with dried out leaves that never fell off.


Last fall I read an article in our local newspaper about this subject. It
said not to worry if the trees hold on to their leaves this year (2003). It
happens because the cold weather in the fall came on too fast and the trees
didn't have time to respond by their leaves changing colors and falling.
They went into dormancy right away to protect themselves, and this was a
result. They will eventually lose their leaves, but it definitely wasn't in
time to rake them before the snows. Over the winter, the trees have slowly
been dropping their leaves, but some still hang on.

As long as you notice the buds swelling, you should be OK.

And bear in mind that the timing of budding varies quite a bit.

I have various palmatums opening leaves now, and a tschonoskii, but griseum,
for instance is later and its hard to tell if the darned thing is still kicking
unless you scratch the bark to see if it is green underneath.

If you are worried about it, scratch the bark with your fingernail - green
cambium means you are still a going concern.

As long as you notice the buds swelling, you should be OK.

And bear in mind that the timing of budding varies quite a bit.

I have various palmatums opening leaves now, and a tschonoskii, but griseum,
for instance is later and its hard to tell if the darned thing is still kicking
unless you scratch the bark to see if it is green underneath.

If you are worried about it, scratch the bark with your fingernail - green
cambium means you are still a going concern.

Thanks to Sam Lawrence Tresh & Bill for helpful replies, & anyone else
whose reply may show up later -- & especially to Pam for the explanation
of what causes JM leaves in some years to very occasionally not fall off
come autumn.

I wish I'd asked earlier so I wouldn't've been worrying myself over the
tree throughout the winter!

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Thanks to Sam Lawrence Tresh & Bill for helpful replies, & anyone else
whose reply may show up later -- & especially to Pam for the explanation
of what causes JM leaves in some years to very occasionally not fall off
come autumn.

I wish I'd asked earlier so I wouldn't've been worrying myself over the
tree throughout the winter!

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Thanks to Sam Lawrence Tresh & Bill for helpful replies, & anyone else
whose reply may show up later -- & especially to Pam for the explanation
of what causes JM leaves in some years to very occasionally not fall off
come autumn.

I wish I'd asked earlier so I wouldn't've been worrying myself over the
tree throughout the winter!

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Thanks to Sam Lawrence Tresh & Bill for helpful replies, & anyone else
whose reply may show up later -- & especially to Pam for the explanation
of what causes JM leaves in some years to very occasionally not fall off
come autumn.

I wish I'd asked earlier so I wouldn't've been worrying myself over the
tree throughout the winter!

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/