My Poor Acer Tree

RebekahR

It looks dead :-( All my leaves have shrivelled over night. Did the frost get it? What do I do with it! :eek: Can it be saved?

peter_the_piper

Probably was the icy north wind, they seem to be susceptible to this. Give it time and see if it recovers. If its a reasonable age there's a fair chance it'll be all right but will look awful for a while.

Kay_Peel

Scratch one of the branches gently with your fingernail. If it's green, then there is some life in the Acer yet - so don't be down hearted.

I think you'll find that it will recover. Leave it alone for a couple of weeks. If there are some dead branches or parts of branches that have died back then all you need is to remove them. Nothing is going to bring them back to life and they look unsightly.

Was the ground very dry before the icy frosty weather came in? If an Acer (particularly an Acer in a pot) does not get enough water at this time of year it tends to protest very loudly by dropping it's leaves and pretending to die.

Give it a bucket of water if it's thirsty.

best of luck!

RebekahR

Here it is ...



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It is about 2 years old. Yea I recon it was the wind as it was up the garden over night as we had washed out patio and left it to dry.
I've given it lots of water and the scratching test shows a whitey, soft, light green so must be life in the old thing yet! Will any leaves come back or is that it til next year now?

Kay_Peel

It's not as bad as I thought. :j

My Acers have been much, much worse - not only because they've been thirsty, in windy locations and cold but also through my neglect. The leaves have dropped off and I feared the worst. However, within a few weeks, they've had new buds and new leaves and have shown no signs of ill-treatment from me.

I'm sure that yours will be the same. :beer:

I think you might need to move it to a bigger pot before it's 3 years old, though.

RebekahR

Yay! Maybe now is a good time? His pot is currently 11 inches what size should I aim for? Good opportunity to feed it lots too. I shall post pictures of it's recovery!

Kay_Peel

Right now is a very good time to repot an Acer.

Get a big pot. Something like a 75 litre one (roughly 20 inches across and 20 inches deep) but a 100 litre one would be better (24 inches across and 20 inches deep). If you get the bigger one then you won't have to repot it for another 10 years! :beer:

Get well soon, Acer!

RebekahR

Here he is in his new home! He looks so tiny in there lol.



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[Deleted User]

I have an acer.., bought as a sorry thing from Netto's a couple of years ago but doing very nicely now its in a shady spot. What should I feed it with? I have general feed pellets. Its been in a big pot similiar to the one shown above since last year.

RebekahR

I have just repotted this with basic compost and I mixed in a spoonful of growmore. I have never fed it before. Wasn't even sure growmore was a good thing to use so didn't put too much in.

covlass

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n303/cov2811/my%20garden/acer1.jpg
heres my Acer 2 weeks ago looking very ill

I changed it's soil and look at it now
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n303/cov2811/my%20garden/acer2a.jpg

I gave it a little Fish & blood bone also

Hopefully yours will pick up soon