Orangeola maple help

[Nez505]

I made an impulse buy last week and bought an orangeola Japanese Maple. I thought if I planted in a pot real quick with good draining soil that I’d be ok. I’m getting extremely nervous that I’ve hurt the tree beyond repair. The tree is outside and gets roughly 4-5 hours of direct sunlight during the mid day. I water it daily and have put some fertilizer pellets on it to give it some nutrients. I’m confused to if this is just damage from the sun, or if this is a sign of something bigger. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Welcome!

Here are my guesses:
1. We normally repot in early spring when the buds are about to open. Repotting now might be very bad.
2. I think Japanese maples like morning sun, then dappled shade or full shade after that. It might be getting too much direct sun.
3. Since it has just been repotted, fertilizer may be making it worse.

I think I would put it in shade for now, remove whatever fertilizer pellets you can find, keep the soil moist but not soggy, and hope for the best.

 

[BrightsideB]

Shade is important at this point. The roots haven’t acclimated to support the foliage needs. The shade will keep the tree cooler and provide roots to adapt.

At this point in the year during summer. The trees should have been setup to survive the summer absorbing sunlight and turning it into its energy for next springs growth and to keep it healthy. If you did a bare root repot without removing lots of major roots. You lost a lot of the fine roots the tree uses to absorb water quicker and more efficiently. And they haven’t leached into the particles yet.

I think your tree could be ok if you let it recover in shade.

 

[Nez505]

Shade is important at this point. The roots haven’t acclimated to support the foliage needs. The shade will keep the tree cooler and provide roots to adapt.

At this point in the year during summer. The trees should have been setup to survive the summer absorbing sunlight and turning it into its energy for next springs growth and to keep it healthy. If you did a bare root repot without removing lots of major roots. You lost a lot of the fine roots the tree uses to absorb water quicker and more efficiently. And they haven’t leached into the particles yet.

I think your tree could be ok if you let it recover in shade.

Thank you for your response. I’ve move my tree to a shaded spot outside. During the repot I didn’t remove many roots at all. I took the tree out of the pot, scraped off the dirt using a rake, the washed the rootball in a bucket of water. I did this as I thought it would minimize damage to the roots and I could do a more extensive repot in the spring if need be. I’m definitely not going to do that again.

 

[Nez505]

Welcome!

Here are my guesses:
1. We normally repot in early spring when the buds are about to open. Repotting now might be very bad.
2. I think Japanese maples like morning sun, then dappled shade or full shade after that. It might be getting too much direct sun.
3. Since it has just been repotted, fertilizer may be making it worse.

I think I would put it in shade for now, remove whatever fertilizer pellets you can find, keep the soil moist but not soggy, and hope for the best.

Thank you for your response. It’s been moved to a shaded spot outside.

 

[BrightsideB]

Thank you for your response. I’ve move my tree to a shaded spot outside. During the repot I didn’t remove many roots at all. I took the tree out of the pot, scraped off the dirt using a rake, the washed the rootball in a bucket of water. I did this as I thought it would minimize damage to the roots and I could do a more extensive repot in the spring if need be. I’m definitely not going to do that again.

What you did isn’t necessarily bad. During early spring right before or at bud break and coming out of dormancy the tree would rebound well.

If it lives it’s going to be using energy stores to regrow foliage. I’d leave it alone next year and just bring it back up to health before doing more work. Looks like it needs to gain size anyways. The best way is to let it grow as much as possible.

 

[Nez505]

What you did isn’t necessarily bad. During early spring right before or at bud break and coming out of dormancy the tree would rebound well.

If it lives it’s going to be using energy stores to regrow foliage. I’d leave it alone next year and just bring it back up to health before doing more work. Looks like it needs to gain size anyways. The best way is to let it grow as much as possible.

Thank you for this!

If it lives then plan for next year would just be supporting it to grow. Should I also figure out a way to support the top as well? Or is that too much work? Sorry for all the questions.

 

[BrightsideB]

Thank you for this!

If it lives then plan for next year would just be supporting it to grow. Should I also figure out a way to support the top as well? Or is that too much work? Sorry for all the questions.

Let it recover for the remaining year without any work. Start to fertilize in a couple weeks but not heavily. Fertilizing freshly repotted roots can damage them. I have read that several times and I usually wait a couple weeks without any problem. Next year just keep it alive and healthy. Anytime we do work to a tree we rob its energy stores unless it is just wiring.

I have to say I have never seen this cultivar as a bonsai. I have one growing in the yard I got a good deal on. These dissectum varieties are affected by heat more than the more standard leaf varieties and cultivars. In pots they can be tricky. Internode length can be lengthy as well.

Starting out with some junipers is always a good idea I think. Also @leatherback here has a good YouTube channel with good info.