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ajsnana

my jm isnt growing

ajsnana
13 years ago

I have had a jm for about 4 years. It doesnt appear to have grown (neither height or girth) at all since the first year. Any ideas?

Comments (9)

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    13 years ago

    Perhaps transplant shock or a non ideal location.

    Ajsnana, tell us more about your tree's location and how large a transplant it is. Next to the house, full sun, do you live in Salt Lake, down by Nevada or up in the hills? That type of thing.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    13 years ago

    Transplant shock should not last for 4 years :-) A non-ideal location is certainly a possibility but that usually results in poor overall health of the plant as well as lack of growth. Is that the case?

    Without knowing what type of JM you have, seeing the tree (can you post photos?) and having some understanding of your growing conditions (soil type, pH, siting, etc.) any suggestions are just wild speculation.

    We need more details!!

  • ajsnana
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The tree is a bloodgood. Its approximately 4' tall. It grew maybe 8 inches the first year after we transplanted. The second year we had a black frost mid may and we lost most of the foilage, some came back thru the season. 3rd & 4th year it bloomed but has not grown. The leaves look healthy and no insects.
    It sits near the house and a fence. It faces west, gets full to part sun 6-8 hours of the day. (Some shade in late afternoon) The soil has some clay,average drainage.
    Sorry I cant find any photos with the tree in them.
    Hope this gives you something to go on...

  • Embothrium
    13 years ago

    So the stunting started with the frost damage, there would seem to be a connection. Utah I would not expect to be a favorable area, it is possible tree will never be a success there anyway. Do you see any other, older Japanese maple trees around?

  • ajsnana
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    They seem to do very well here. There are several large trees in my neighborhood.
    I believe I will try to transplant in the spring, and see if that makes a difference.

  • MomijiGuy
    13 years ago

    Ajsnana, I've had lots of good luck growing these trees in Salt Lake, but by no means an expert. JM's as a whole are fairly slow growing, but on a Bloodgood you should have definately seen more growth than that by now. I have a similar situation with A.P Trompenburg - though it's supposed to be one of the faster growing uprights. My suspicion is that I didn't give it the proper care that I should have when placing in the ground, and by this, I mean that I didn't take the time to "loosen-up" the roots before placing it. So basicly it's somewhat root bound as if it had been growing in a container without being repotted and sized-up after 2-3 years. This is just a hunch, but I think you are on the right track as far as pulling it up and replanting. But I don't think site location has much to do with your tree's slow growth, unless of course the soil it's in is very nutrient poor. If you like th location go ahead and ammend the soil if need be, but the icrease in growth-rate will come from lossening-up and trimming those roots, IMO. Also, use a root-start hormone when doing this; and I would do this in mid-April - mid-May. I hope this helps.

  • User
    13 years ago

    Plant a tree high, and it won't die.
    Plant a tree low, and it won't grow.

    I'll make a bet, you planted the tree too deep.

  • acer_guy77
    13 years ago

    First, if you think your tree may be in poor health I would advise against transplanting it in the spring, this is the time when your tree's energy is focused on new growth above ground (I guess in your case this is less than eventful), and if you have a bit of bad luck with the weather with out a good root system going, you run the risk of losing it all together... the Ideal time to transplant is in the fall, this is the time when the tree will put new growth into the root system, and with waining heat from summer you don't run the risk of stressing an already stressed tree.
    The soil should be the least of your worries, While JM's like a slightly acidic Soil they easily adapt to most any ph (not all, but most) and they don't need a lot of fertilizer because of the fact that they grow so slow.
    On to my prognosis, having reviewed the facts (those that you presented) your tree basically had to deal with a hard freeze while only having a single growing year to get roots started, this is a major set back. When your tree had to regrow (new leaves) after it had a little energy to grow in the first set of leaves, I would expect it to have a lot of trouble there after, and sense JM's are very slow growing I'm not surprised at the results. Your tree has technically only had two growing years (in spite of being in the ground for 4 years) to establish it self, and it has struggled to boot... So if I where you I would
    1. exercise a little patience, leave it in it's present spot, if you move it you'll likely set back its establishment even more
    2. don't over do it with fertilizers and soil amendments
    3. Protect it when the weather man calls for frost in the middle of spring
    4. Remember, JM's are very slow growers, and I cannot emphasize that enough, and as a result they also recover very slow from injures, and stress (a little side note, you can ask any one who does Bonsai and they'll likely tell you that "we just don't live long enough to see the full potential of JM's as a bonsai specimen" everything just takes forever with them).. I know this was a long winded response, but I just want you to hear a response with an objective take on the facts... Good luck, and keep us posted.

  • PRO
    Katsura Gardens
    13 years ago

    I'm with Butterfly (above) The tree is probably planted too deep. This is a very common error.I have lifted many badly planted trees that showed recovery the next growing season. Google 'root flare' and make sure yours is exposed.

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