I highly doubt iron chlorosis. I'd wait to see what happens this spring, it probably just had transplant shock and dropped its leaves. Those things grow like weeds (I've got over a dozen of them, chopping some out this spring) so I'd be very surprised if it's dead. Most nurseries guarantee zone-hardy plants for a year, so you could probably get a refund if it in fact died.

Give it a shot of fertilizer in the spring and it should be fine. I always plant with bone meal. If it dies the plant would still be guaranteed by the nursery.

hi,
Nutsaboutflowers, did you find any more information? I also have an Amur Maple and it is about 10 years old. Over the last few years it has developed problems. Blackened leaves, very yellow or light in color. About 1/4 of the leaves dropped last year. I am going to check at the garden centre before it leafs out to see what I can do. I did spray it with iron chelate last fall as this is what I suspected would help. Maybe it worked? I hope I didn't injure the tree, but through my research it appears to be anemia which is common for this tree.

Denidill:

I've done some reading, and although my problem could be transplant shock or lack of fertilizer as suggested by others here, I'm pretty sure now it's lack of iron. I'm going to give it iron chelate 1-2 inches below the soil and water it well, as soon as the ground can be worked.That apparently works better longer term than spraying the leaves. If that doesn't help, I have until August to return it for a refund.

From what I've read, your tree would be happier with iron chelate in the soil if that's it's problem. It's supposed to help for 1-2 years.

Good luck to both of us =:)

I checked my tree yesterday and it's getting fresh new buds.

At least it's still alive =:)

Is it too early to give it iron and/or fertilizer? We may get bits of cold and/or snow still.

I'm waiting until the leaves just start to come out and then I'm zapping it again with iron. I phoned a garden show and was told it is getting too much water from sitting in my poor draining clay soil. A garden lecture suggested it was anemic due to lack of nutrients from the heavy clay soil. So I'm cutting back the watering AND giving it fertilizer/iron. If it does not improve this year, I am thinking I will take it out. It really looked awful last summer.