I don't know if I can personally help ya and it may not be a reversion...or impossible to tell since you don't know what cultivar it is...leaves that grow out at differnt times of the season are often differnt and yours doesn't soumd like a typical reversion and may just be a growth spurt ... those would know for sure will need jpegs of the whole tree, base of trunk, and several shots comparing new to older growth... If you can't figure out how to post here ( good luck) you can link photo bucket or any other web based photo storage spot ...thats what most folks do David

It's not a reversion - those tend to be very rare in JM's as long as the growth is appearing at the branch ends and not from below the graft. Various growers have given me explanations for this odd growth pattern, which tends to occur more frequently with specific cultivars than others, and the one that I tend to lean towards is that it is related to nutrient uptake. Young maples in nurseries that receive frequent fertilizing often demonstrate this growth as do those in gardens with highly amended soils or good organic mulching or where they are accessing the availability of lawn fertilizer. The recommendation was to allow the trees to grow into this growth and absorb it rather than pruning it out. Next season's foliage on these shoots should appear normal and you will also get extension of the more typically growing branches as well.

The good news is that most young trees grow out of this pattern in a couple of years.

Um, it was said:
...reversions "tend to be very rare in JM's as long as the growth is appearing at the branch ends and not from below the graft."

Wish you would have explained that to a lovely named Japanese maple I had. It frequently threw plan green growth, either from tip growth or from stems/branches. I gave it five years to stop that nonsense. It didn't.

It's gone now. The tree, that is.

So, wfreddmr, I'd follow the advice you received a while ago -- "to cut those branches out right away" because that growth *will* overtake the original.

Sorry to disagree, Jean, but your experience is NOT typical. Some of the variegated forms will throw solid green branchlets but they will most often assume normal variegation the following season. And many cultivars of JM's will produce late season growth that is distinctly different in appearance (leaf shape, size and coloring) from normal growth but these rarely repeat season after season and should not be removed.

If you can provide the correct cultivar name for this tree, we can let you know if this growth habit is common for that selection or not. As stated previously, with a good many cultivars of JM's atypical growth patterns are not all that uncommon and does not automatically mean a tree is reverting.

If I may I'd like to jump in and recommend not pruning it either...yet. Out of all of my 50+ japanese maples about a third of them throw out new growth that is distinctly different than old growth leaves.

As far as I know all of the reticulated maples show almost no reticulation on new shoots this time of year, but the same limbs put on wonderfully reticulated growth in the spring.

All of the linearilobums that I've seen put on large untypical leaves that you could swear was a reversion on late season growth. But it almost always returns to the normal straplike leaf in the following spring, even when grafted to a new rootstock.

Other variegates often show this as well. Higasayama puts on green wrinkly leaves with no variegation this time of year, but in spring they will be pink and white lined along the edges of the lobes (if not overfertilized).

The point is...wait until spring to see if it returns to normal. And if it is different, prune it back.

Thanks for your ideas. I wish I knew the correct cultivar, but that is not an option. The nursery couldn't identify it with any certainty. Since the tree is small, I feel safe waiting until spring since pruning out the new growth will take all of an hour, at most.

It isn't variegated, but it has lovely delicate grass green leaves.

If a photo would help, I can give that a shot.
-WR

It seems to me alot of things can cause the phenomenon ...and both GG and Matt are correct . From my experience stressful conditions heat, drought, cold, dryness and wetness can cause differnt growth patterns as can fertiliztion...There are a few Jm's that do revert but it is only a few..Beni komachi,Kot ito kamachi and there may be others ...but even w/o photos i think it is highly unlikly yours is...a wait and see attitude is best rather than butchering your tree since it sounds like much of it has differnt new growth..David

my maple has been in it's sunny location for 2 seasons and has started to grow very scraggly this year. should it be pruned??

hey piney.. why insert your question in a 7 year old dead post??? .. start your own post next time ...

the answer to whether yours should be pruned.. is answered.. when you can state.. what your goal is with the plant ..

and having given us a pic away from the house.. i cant really help you with guidance in your goal ..

regardless .... its awful small and young.. to be too worried about pruning ... we prune.. to achieve an END ... not just for the heck of it ....

ken