Hi everyone,

I'm new here and very new to gardening too!

Please could someone advise me? I have an Acer Palmatum tree in a large stone tub on my patio, and it's not looking very happy - its leaves are all soft and floppy, and are just hanging limply from the branches. I'm keeping it well-watered, so I don't know what else could be causing this.

Should I plant the acer in the ground rather than keeping it in a tub? The patio faces east and gets full sun from about 7am until 3 or 4pm - should I move the acer so it has more shade? (Nb the leaves aren't scorched). Do I need to feed it anything special?

Thanks for any advice!

Antonia in Shropshire

On Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:27:38 +0100, Antonia wrote
(in article ):


Hi everyone,

I'm new here and very new to gardening too!

Please could someone advise me? I have an Acer Palmatum tree in a large
stone tub on my patio, and it's not looking very happy - its leaves are
all soft and floppy, and are just hanging limply from the branches. I'm
keeping it well-watered, so I don't know what else could be causing
this.

That's your problem. You're almost certainly over-watering it and not
letting it drain thoroughly or start to dry out between waterings. Acers
absolutely hate have their feet wet all the time.

Should I plant the acer in the ground rather than keeping it in a tub?

It will be fine in a tub, as long as it's not over-potted i.e. the pot is too
big for it, so it's getting too much water over and on top of its other
problem!

The patio faces east and gets full sun from about 7am until 3 or 4pm -
should I move the acer so it has more shade? (Nb the leaves aren't
scorched). Do I need to feed it anything special?


No, don't feed it. Just leave it alone! As long as it's not in the path of
cold winds it should be fine. The finer the leaf, the more wind is a problem
for them but none of them like it.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
email address on web site

Thanks for your very helpful reply Sacha! The tub was obivously too big for the acer as the root system was still tiny when I de-potted it to check, so I've repotted it in a much smaller pot. I'll stop watering it unless it gets really dry. It sounds like I should treat it in much the same way as I treat my pots of lavender, which are all doing really well (potted in general potting compost mixed with sharp sand and perlite, and watered only by the rain). Does that sound like a good plan?

How resilient are Acers - does it have a good chance of recovering? It doesn't seem to be in *too* bad a state.

Thanks again!

Antonia

On Fri, 2 Jun 2006 23:53:14 +0100, Antonia wrote
(in article ):

Thanks for your very helpful reply Sacha! The tub was obivously too bigfor
the acer as the root system was still tiny when I de-potted it tocheck, so
I've repotted it in a much smaller pot. I'll stop watering itunless it gets
really dry. It sounds like I should treat it in much thesame way as I treat
my pots of lavender, which are all doing reallywell (potted in general
potting compost mixed with sharp sand andperlite, and watered only by the
rain). Does that sound like a goodplan?

We use ericaceous compost and you could certainly mix in sharp sand or grit.
We don't use Perlite.

How resilient are Acers - does it have a good chance of recovering? Itdoesn't

seem to be in *too* bad a state.

snip

It has every chance of recovering if you let it dry back to a normal state of
compost.
BTW, just as a tip, the more usual habit for urg is to bottom post, rather
than top post. Top posted replies often get ignored by quite a few people
because it's easier and more logical to reply to the last remark. ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
email address on web site