Acer Palmatum not looking healthy

[akhater]

I just got as gift an Acer Palmatum (dunno which cultivar) and it looks really tired.

just a few leaves that are not vigorous and the trunk, instead of being green, is yellowish with some black.

The substrate is not good either but I really doubt it can handle a repotting right now!

I need all the help and advise I can get to make it regain strength, since it is still alive then we still have hopes

Some pics

 

[jk_lewis]

I can't see anything obvious in the pictures. It looks perfectly healthy.

You can repot if you don't cut any roots. Just be sure soil is worked into the rootball completely. No air pockets.

 

[akhater]

JKL thanks for taking the time to reply.

You mean the trunk color is ok ? yellowing with some dark (blackish) spots ?

I surely prefer not to repot it until fall if you think it can make it till then however it is root bound in the current container

 

[Don Blackmond]

hard to see anything in those photos, but looks fine. the trunk will be green or some shade thereof when younger and will grey as it ages. what I see in your photos looks normal.

 

[akhater]

Thanks Don Blackmond, I think then I will leave it in peace for the time being and feed it well...

 

[akhater]

can any one help me identify what cultivar it is ? I suspect an atropurpureum but how to be sure ?

A close up on a leaf

thanks

 

[jk_lewis]

Bloodgood? That may be the ony one that would do well in Lebanon.

 

[akhater]

this is what i had in mind...

I found a fireglow one that I am thinking to buy... Would it do fine as bonsai ?

Can it be layered and live on its roots ?

It is for $100 so i d better not mess with my choice

 

[jferrier]

Looks fine to me. Looks like the leaves are still very new. They often look sort of droopy right after they come out in the spring. Is it grafted? It looks like a regular red palmatum to me. Bloodgood is usually much darker maroon.

 

[jferrier]

Also, almost any variety of Japanese maple can make a nice bonsai, and almost any palmatum will airlayer. The laceleafs are not always reliable with layering though.

 

[akhater]

thanks for the reply, yes I'm planning to layer it

The fireglow i found is not grafted (at least I didnt see one) and was seeing if it will be easy to layer, the trunk has a ppretty nice trunk

 

[jferrier]

Named varieties must come from the actual parent so unless this tree was started from a cutting or an airlayer, or is grafted, then its not a Fireglow. A tree grown from seed is not a true cultivar. A Fireglow should layer.

 

[akhater]

i bought it... Will post pics soon
Hope i will be able not to ruin it

 

[akhater]

The tree was layered last year, for this year I had the option to layer it at the base to get a better/good nebari or repot it.


I don't know why I chose to repot it instead and take a look at these roots and get it in a more suitable soil.

done a couple of days ago

By the way it is not a bloodgood, I compared with a bloodgood of a friend and they have totally different colors, it should be an atropurpureum

 

[akhater]

2 weeks after repotting this little guy is leafing out pretty fast but this year the leaves are GREEN !! any idea why ?

 

[JudyB]

It must have been a grafted tree, and you cut the grafted top off completely, so now you have a different tree basically. You have now a tree that was only the rootstock before...

 

[akhater]

Hi Judy and thanks for the continious support, the tree is not grafted and the same branch that was red last year is green now

 

[JudyB]

Then I don't get it... unless the leaves come out green and then turn red... but you had it come out red last year? hmmmmm...

 

[akhater]

I only had it since last spring but it was red last spring as in the pics start of this post

I know they tend to turn to green after a while, this what happened last summer but not to push out green leaves

 

[JudyB]

I have a shrub called a nine bark, that started out as all maroon leaves. Over the years some of the branches have reverted to a green color. Are you sure that this is the same branch? Not that I doubt you, I'm just searching for clues...