Amenson
Seedling
I have a dilemma, unfortunately one that I may have caused. I picked up an unknown maple this summer. The lady I purchased it from called it a red maple. I had seen the tree several times the year prior to purchasing it and it was always in good health. I passed on it previously because there was some necking at the base of the tree. This time she called me up and said that I could have it if I came an got it because she did not have room for it in her car when she moved. How could I resist. Unfortunately during the preparation of moving she left her collection in the care of a "friend" who neglected to water some trees properly during a very dry time of year. The tree showed significant burning of the leaves when I got it.
I brought it home on 6/24/10 and put it in dappled shade along with a 3 tree Japanese Maple group I got at the same time that was also suffering.
The leaves continued to brown so I put it next to the house where it would only get an hour or so of early morning sun.
On 7/8/10 I clipped dead Leaves and trimmed the rest back to mostly 1 new pair of leaves to give the forming buds some air and room to grow.
Over the next couple of weeks the new leaves grew a bit and then shriveled and died.
On 7/26/10 repotted to remove muck/soil. I repotted the Japanese maple planting on 6/26/10 because it was in the same muck and it was doing much better so I figured it would help out this guy.
Unfortunately the new leaves continued to brown and die and the existing ones slowly did the same.
The last of the leaves fell off a few weeks ago. The other maple is doing just fine.
I thought that it may have went dormant but a couple of days ago I noticed that it had put out a few new buds trying to pop.
Now I am really concerned that it may not make it through the winter.
So now what?
I was planning to put it into my cold frame and see what happened in the spring. Now I am considering other options. I have a winter "cage" for my tropicals. I was thinking that I could store it there to let some leaves form and maybe gain some strength and then bring it back dormant in my breezeway and then eventually into the cold frame. Would this just make it worse?
What do you guys think?
Cheers
Scott

I brought it home on 6/24/10 and put it in dappled shade along with a 3 tree Japanese Maple group I got at the same time that was also suffering.

The leaves continued to brown so I put it next to the house where it would only get an hour or so of early morning sun.
On 7/8/10 I clipped dead Leaves and trimmed the rest back to mostly 1 new pair of leaves to give the forming buds some air and room to grow.

Over the next couple of weeks the new leaves grew a bit and then shriveled and died.
On 7/26/10 repotted to remove muck/soil. I repotted the Japanese maple planting on 6/26/10 because it was in the same muck and it was doing much better so I figured it would help out this guy.

Unfortunately the new leaves continued to brown and die and the existing ones slowly did the same.

The last of the leaves fell off a few weeks ago. The other maple is doing just fine.

I thought that it may have went dormant but a couple of days ago I noticed that it had put out a few new buds trying to pop.


Now I am really concerned that it may not make it through the winter.
So now what?
I was planning to put it into my cold frame and see what happened in the spring. Now I am considering other options. I have a winter "cage" for my tropicals. I was thinking that I could store it there to let some leaves form and maybe gain some strength and then bring it back dormant in my breezeway and then eventually into the cold frame. Would this just make it worse?
What do you guys think?
Cheers
Scott
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