Japanese maple

Monday, March 3rd 2008, 11:13am by Steven Samuels

We've only been in our wonderful new house since July. Sadly, we know nothing about the trees, bushes, and plants all around us (though I had some organic gardening experience long, long, long ago). Only when an aunt comes by in April will we even have a shot at knowing what's already going on here.

But those who preceeded us actually landscaped the place, and quite handsomely. One gem, out front, is a Japanese maple we've been led to believe may even be valuable. Trouble is, the drought's been hard on it. Last I saw signs of life, only one branch had any leaves...

Could there be hope of revival? Nothing's been done over the winter, but we'd sure like to know how we can revive this beauty.

Responses

Lance,

Monday, March 3rd 2008, 8:25pm

Maybe just start with food and water and see where it goes from there. We don't really have any buds on the branches of our trees yet either, so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

For food, maybe compost and mulch around the base of the tree? Or you can buy fertilizer spikes that you just pound into the ground around the trunk.

For watering, I've always been told that a slow steady trickle is best. Run your hose out to it a couple times per week and just barely get the water to flow. Just the tiniest trickle. And let it run all morning.

Bob,

Tuesday, March 4th 2008, 6:39am

For what it's worth, I used some fertilizer spikes around my sickly dogwood. I think they helped. But the instructions of just pounding them into the ground with a mallet should be ignored. They have the strength of a clump of Parmesan cheese, and hitting with a mallet simple pulverizes it all.

My suggestion is to actually dig a hole, plant stake, cover with dirt, water it well.

They did seem to help my drought-starved fungal Dogwood.

Japanese maple

Responses

Steve, Lisa and Samantha's Place

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