Return to the Maples Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Bloodgood Leaves browning on edges
| | |
Posted by csherman Central OH (My Page) on Fri, Jul 4, 08 at 2:47
| About 5 years ago, I planted a Japanese Maple, I believe its a Bloodgood, by the window in front of my condo. Its located in a narrow patch between the building and the sidewalk on the north side of the building so it receives little sun. For the first 3 years the tree grew fine without problems. Then last year and now this year, most of the leaves are starting to turn brown. Its very odd, the new growth seems fine but eventually the leaf edges begin to dry and turn brown. The brown moves into the center of the leaf but does not entirely encompass the leaf and it remains attached to the tree.
My condo was built on landfill back in 1978 and the soil is very heavy with clay. This area also has a great deal of limestone but I don't think that's the problem. When I planted the tree, I dug up much of the clay soil and replaced it with topsoil mixed with Miracle Grow's Organic Soil
Last Spring, I added organic fertilizer to the soil close to the tree and I thought, possibly, I overfertilized and burned the leaves. But this year I didn't fertilize and the same thing is happening. I wondered if as the tree grows and the roots dig deeper, they are reaching the heavy clay which doesn't allow for much drainage? A neighbor has a similar tree on the southern side of the building and its doing fine but the soil over there may have less clay content.
I'll try to post a picture but I haven't ever done that before so it may be a problem.
Any help is appreciated. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Bloodgood Leaves browning on edges
| | |
Here's a picture, I hope:
 |
RE: Bloodgood Leaves browning on edges
| | |
Hmmmmm.... is it windy in that area? How much water are you giving it and how often? A few possibilities come to mind:
1) windburn
2) over or under watering
3) Chlorosis (a shortage of iron) Could be any of these three... I have not had any of my trees experience chlorosis, but you may want to google that and a simple addition of iron would help...
Tom |
RE: Bloodgood Leaves browning on edges
| | |
| It's dry. To know for certain, stick a trowel in the ground and see how deep it's moist. |
RE: Bloodgood Leaves browning on edges
| | |
| Thank you both for your replies. It's not dry and its not overwater either. Its also not windburn. As you can see, I'm fairly dumbfounded as I've covered the basics. The shortage of iron though might just be the problem. I've not heard of Chlorosis before and was hoping just for such a suggestion from someone more knowledgeable than me. I've tested the pH of the soil and it came back normal, same with fertilizer but other than those tests, I just didn't know what to do, short of moving the tree to another location. I'll Google for Chlorosis as Tom suggests and see what I find out. I'll post back with results. If anyone else has suggestions, I'm certainly still open to them. Cathy |
|
|
|
|
