Acer Trident - is it ok ?

[doipac]

Good morning folks,

I have repotted this Acer Trident 2 weeks ago before the buds broke, in a 2:1:1 Akadama-Pumice-Lava rock. Now to me it looks that he is wilting, but I'm not sure because it's his first spring with me after I bought it.
Another questions is, should I start to fertilize it ? On one hand just 2 weeks passed since I repotted him, on the other he already needs nutrients given that the leaves emerged and he is in anorganic mix.
What I have in mind is either BioGold 4/5/4, or Tamahi from Ibuki with 9/4/2.
I'd go for Biogold which is lower in Nitrogen, given that the Trident is pretty developed (more than 10 years).

I'm pretty new to maples, so thanks for your advices.

 

[Shibui]

It is perfectly normal for new emerging leaves to be a bit droopy. They are not strong enough to hold up but soon will be as they harden up.
Trees have stores of food in the trunk, roots and branches that can be used to start new leaves in emergency but it will do even better with some fertilizer. Many growers restrict fertilizer through early spring to encourage shorter internodes for better ramification and the trees still grow well.
Your tree still has a lot of long internodes and relatively undeveloped branches so the low N option might be better for you. I would certainly be pruning most of those branches much more to prepare the way for better branches but that's up to you.
Please note that the raw fertilizer numbers are not the only thing to consider when selecting fertilizer. You need to view those along with the recommended application rates - if the biogold mentioned above is applied at double the rate of the Tamahi then the nitrogen available will be almost the same for the tree.
There's a lot of advice around to delay fertilizer for a few weeks after repotting but I have never had any adverse reaction to fertilizing straight after repotting. After 2 weeks you are good to go now.

 

[doipac]

Thanks a lot for your answer, I'll start applying BioGold then. As for the pruning, yes I have to something about it, just that I haven't decided yet how. Probably will do a refinement in late spring.

 

[Juanmi]

Probably will do a refinement in late spring.

Best time to hard prune deciduous trees is either late winter / early spring (just before the buds open) or in summer, when the trees zlow down their growth.

Maintenance pruning can be done on autumn (fall) to allow the tree distribute its energy on the existing buds and make room for new growth.

I'm sure you can prune your maple whenever you want and it can take it, Buergeraniums are quite strong.