Japanese maple

[diyisfree]

I have an acer with blood red leaves that is about 15 years old. It is one of the very slow growing varieties and is now about 7 feet tall.

Last year i noticed there was a lot less leves than normal and again this year i have noticed the buds are far and few. I have also noticed quite a bit of die back on the tips of the branches where the new buds should be developing.

One other thing i have noticed a few weeks ago was the birds seemed to be pecking at the branches. I think it is them that are eating the new buds but why am i gettiong die back ?

Here is a picture of the tree in question. Please ignore the camera, it was one i was selling on fleebay. This was a couple of years ago when the tree was ok

Cheers gang

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[crazycanuck]

take the photo to a arboretum and ask them, I suspect a small grub or poor quality soil

 

[Old Perennial]

Acer Palmatum doesnt like wind or the leaves will burn and shrivel and is the most likely cause of die back. They dont like hot sun either or the same will happen. naturally they grow beneath the tree canopy where its cool and sheltered. As its 15 years old and has only suddenly started to suffer it may be that local conditions applied. Maybe the soil dried out in summer? But i must stress, they dont like wind.

Have have one in a container on my deck against a north wall and its sheltered from the prevailing east wind (Yorkshire). I suffered the same fate but a little research and resiting did the job.
Hope this helps.

 

[White Lightning]

We've had a similar problem. Our Acer Palmatum is a smaller type and we have it in a pot. However it has never really looked particularly impressive (unlike yours). My wife was looking at it yesterday and noticed small bumps along the branches and picked one of the bumps off. I did some research (by typing 'limpet like garden pests' into google) and it appears that our tree has been infested with "scale insects". We have now picked most of them off (more tomorrow) and sprayed it with 'Provado Ultimate Bug Killer'. It may be worth checking for this.

Also while trying to find out what these Limpet things were on our tree I found this page which gives a few other ideas for a tree about the same age as yours...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/fsheets/09_12_01/fsheetsq5.shtml