Morning all,

I have an Acer palmatum (Sango-kaku) that i've had for about 18 months now and all has been well until yesterday when i noticed that one of the branches has gone black and appears to have some sort of fungus on it. All the leaves on all the black branches have died as well.

Please see picture for more details.

http://zarch.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/IMG_3043.JPG

I suppose there are 2 options. One would be to treat the problem, but with what? and Two would be to removed the problem branch, but where do i make the cut? I'd have thought under the split where the first blackness appears and lose the whole upper sections, but can anyone advise please?? Obviously i dont want whatever it is to spread any further so i'm looking to sort this out asap.

Many thanks for your time.

Cheers

On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 10:04:15 +0100
Zarch wrote:


Morning all,

I have an Acer palmatum (Sango-kaku) that i've had for about 18 months
now and all has been well until yesterday when i noticed that one of
the branches has gone black and appears to have some sort of fungus on
it. All the leaves on all the black branches have died as well.

Please see picture for more details.

http://tinyurl.com/yeq28d

I suppose there are 2 options. One would be to treat the problem, but
with what? and Two would be to removed the problem branch, but where
do i make the cut? I'd have thought under the split where the first
blackness appears and lose the whole upper sections, but can anyone
advise please?? Obviously i dont want whatever it is to spread any
further so i'm looking to sort this out asap.

[]

Zarch,

Your little Sango kaku is almost certainly suffering from verticillium wilt.
This is very common in A. palmatum cultivars, in fact it's very difficult
to buy "clean" maples. There is unfortunately no cure for the wilt.

However, it need not be fatal, and usually isn't unless the plant is
otherwise stressed. But, you need to cut back to clean wood,
below the split where the die back occurs. With luck and a little
babying you'll be OK. (This said verticillium kills plenty of maples,
I lost a Seiryu and Higasa yama to it this year.)

On another note, where did you get this maple? I don't think
it's really a Sango kaku at all, if you'll forgive me for saying so.
I have 4 different Sango kakus (from different sources) and
although they exhibit some variation none have the light green
wood that yours shows. Even in summer they range from
salmon to quite red bark.

Verticillium causes a vascular constriction that essentially cuts
off moisture to the effected parts of the plant. You can get lots
of information from google, no doubt, or visit the UBC maple forum
and ask there.

Good luck,

-E
--
Emery Davis
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In message , Zarch
writes

http://tinyurl.com/yeq28d

I suppose there are 2 options. One would be to treat the problem, but
with what? and Two would be to removed the problem branch, but where
do i make the cut? I'd have thought under the split where the first
blackness appears and lose the whole upper sections, but can anyone
advise please?? Obviously i dont want whatever it is to spread any
further so i'm looking to sort this out asap.


Cut below the bottom of the picture, at ground level or where the
affected stem joins another. Fresh growth next year should fill the
gap. It's better to avoid leaving a stub when you prune, except maybe
on fruit trees whose appearance doesn't matter.

Unless some more knowledgeable poster recognises the symptoms of Dreaded
Maple Lurgee, don't panic - the stem probably died for physiological
reasons (ie the bush grew too vigorously and ran out of minor
nutrients). This is very common, especially if the bush was pruned hard
last year, or transplanted, or the weather turned wet suddenly, or
overhanging trees were cut back, or anything that'd cause your bush to
make a sudden bid for world domination.

Your picture isn't detailed enough for fungi to be detectable; there are
pale growth marks on the peel of all the stems. If you think the ones
on the black stems are different a macro would help.

--
Sue ]

Emery/Madcow,

Many thanks for your detailed replies, they were very much appreciated.

I've just been out and cut the offending branch as close the bottom of the V on the main branch as i could. On further investigation though, on the back side of the darkended branch the blackness was right down the back nearly at the V where i cut. So hopefully i'm not too late. :-( I also cut of few off the top of the plant that looked darker than they should, i will keep an extra vigilant eye on it over the coming weeks.

As for the reason why, i dont know. The plant has been in the same location for over a year now so i cant see relocation being an issue.

Emery, i dont profess to be any sort of expert on the plant, i was just going on the name on the tag when i bought it. lol. I got it from Rhinegold Nursery here in Sheffield. If he's not a Sango-kaku, what is the poor devil?? ;-)

Again, thanks for your time, fingers crossed he'll hang in there. (why i have just started assuming he's male? lol)

Cheers.

Z.

Hi Zarch,

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 17:38:06 +0100
Zarch wrote:

As for the reason why, i dont know. The plant has been in the same
location for over a year now so i cant see relocation being an issue.


I thought the rest of the wood looked reasonably healthy in the picture, so
there's every chance to think the plant will survive. Let's hope so,
anyway.

Emery, i dont profess to be any sort of expert on the plant, i was just
going on the name on the tag when i bought it. lol. I got it from
Rhinegold Nursery here in Sheffield. If he's not a Sango-kaku, what is
the poor devil?? ;-)

Many Japanese Maples are mislabeled. This may not be the fault of
the nursery where you bought it, who may just be re-selling in good faith.
Sometimes though, nurseries do sell seedlings as the cultivar. If you don't
find a graft union, this could be the case. Otherwise, identification, like
diagnosis, is notoriously difficult to do from a picture. The leaves do
look like the Sango kaku type, but from the bark I'd almost guess Ao yagi.

Anyway, it's a nice plant, and that's what counts. As to the gender, we
could guess, but it's probably fair to say this little tree is a switch hitter.

-E


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Emery Davis
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"Emery Davis" wrote in message
...
snip
As to the gender, we
could guess, but it's probably fair to say this little tree is a switch
hitter.

--
Emery Davis
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I think this tree is a lesbian trapped in a male body:-)

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:31:14 +0100
"Rupert \(W.Yorkshire\)" wrote:


"Emery Davis" wrote in message
...
snip
As to the gender, we
could guess, but it's probably fair to say this little tree is a switch
hitter.

[]

I think this tree is a lesbian trapped in a male body:-)


Well then it'll smile at the sight of the clippers.

Seriously though A. palmatum has both male and female flowers
(monoecious). So you'll have to be pretty fast with the clip, not
to mention the magnifying glass...

-E
--
Emery Davis
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