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Hello! Does anyone know what would cause this drooping and wilting. I purchased this from a nursery and did not realize it until I got home that it looked weak and a little wilted. The leaves are big and healthy but all the branches are drooping over. I'm not sure if this is dying. I thought that perhaps the roots were just too wet so I put it in a shady spot and pulled it out of its pot and the roots look fine. I let it sit in the shade in its original container for 4 days and did not water it and in those 4 days it looked worse. Now I have decided that perhaps it actually needs water so I transplanted it into a larger pot and gave it ample water to see if it will spring back to life. I cannot take it back to the nursery so I am trying to nurse it back to health if possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 

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Mikecheck123

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For young Japanese maples, the problem is almost always roots that are too wet. And what you've done here to address it is a compounding series of abuses.

What kind of pot was it in initially? What did "pulling it out of the pot" entail? Did you just take a peek at the root ball, or did you knock/wash all the soil off the roots?

The counter-intuitive thing is that when roots get too wet, the leaves start drying out. Because the roots aren't working any longer.

And when the leaves are drying out, the last thing you want to do is stop watering.

Instead, you need the roots get get more access to air. To do that, you need a very small pot. Just slightly bigger than the root ball.

(You do NOT want to do a bare root repot into better draining soil at this point, since the tree is on its last leg.)

Then put it in the shade, water it daily, and be patient. It should revive.
 

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Yes, I agree I think I've managed to make the situation worse. But it came in a very small pot and I left it alone in that pot to dry it out and once it was dry it looked worse. When I pulled it out of its pot to inspect it I put it quickly back in the pot and didn't touch the roots at all. Yesterday when I transplanted it into this larger pot I didn't touch the roots at all and I simply placed it in the new pot as is leaving all the original surrounding soil and roots alone.
I'm going to take your advice move it back to the small pot and put it in the shade. Lesson learned not to buy drooping trees from the nursery and to do a better inspection before purchasing.
I greatly appreciate your help and advice.
 

Mikecheck123

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Yes, I agree I think I've managed to make the situation worse. But it came in a very small pot and I left it alone in that pot to dry it out and once it was dry it looked worse. When I pulled it out of its pot to inspect it I put it quickly back in the pot and didn't touch the roots at all. Yesterday when I transplanted it into this larger pot I didn't touch the roots at all and I simply placed it in the new pot as is leaving all the original surrounding soil and roots alone.
I'm going to take your advice move it back to the small pot and put it in the shade. Lesson learned not to buy drooping trees from the nursery and to do a better inspection before purchasing.
I greatly appreciate your help and advice.
Also, when you water, make sure you water until it's flowing freely out the bottom.
 

sorce

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I'd guess straight underwatered.

Welcome to Crazy!

I feel like that soil is looser than it looks.

Sorce
 
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