Droopy Acers!!

Hi everyone!

I bought my boyfriend a couple of small, young acer trees back in mid February. One was a senkaki, I don’t remember what the other was! Obviously they had no leaves then and we waited with excitement for Spring! Well now it’s here and the little fellas really don’t look happy! Their leaves are very droopy and the upper branches look dead with some small leaves that never really managed to spring in to life at all. Can anyone suggest how I might be able to help the little fellas?
I wondered whether
their pots are too small or
if they got too exposed to wind in the early days. I try to keep them in a sheltered spot but we live on a boat and sometimes they get exposed. I’ve not watered them often, the soil is slightly moist but more on the dry side, I gave them a small amount of seaweed fertiliser yesterday. I will attach some photos. Any advice would be most gratefully received, thank you!
Egg

 

Hi @eggydread and welcome to GC! You may think it a stupid question, but can you tip up the pot and take a photo of the drainage holes please? If they came in those pots, I just wanted to see what the drainage was like. Also do the pots stand on the boat's deck directly or in saucers? Acers do dislike draughts so the exposed position may also be a problem, though usually that frazzles the leaves all over.

 

@eggydread
Are you on an inland water way or coastal? As CarolineL said they don't like draughts, but even less do they like salty winds.
It is not unusual for the young foliage to hang down, as the leaves fully expand they will also droop less. Mine also get some die back at the tips every year. I wait until I can see buds bursting then cut the tips back to the nearest healthy bud or pair of buds.
I attach some photos of mine, just taken, for comparison.
Slugs and snails have also been known to eat the soft young bark on twigs over the winter.

 

Hi!
Thanks so much for your replies, here is a photo of the drainage hole. It is sat straight on deck, though they are definitely not waterlogged, in fact right now they might be a bit too dry! we are inland waterways.
The height of the plants are about 3’ from the base of the pot and the internal diameter of the pot is 7”. One of the acers feels packed quite tight and the other quite loose!
Is it ok to bring them inside if the wind picks up? And also, is a seaweed fertiliser good for them and how often?
Thanks so much

 

Yup. Obviously they need light, but they can do without that, or not much of it, for a while.

I would be inclined to put something in the bottom of the outer blue pot so that the inner pot is lifted lightly (e.g. three of four pebbles) - to ensure an air gap to provide free drainage from inner, plastic, pot to outer blue pot ... and then away through that single drainage hole in the bottom of the blue pot.

Water with rain water, when you have it available (tap water at other times is fine - "any water" of course much better than "no water" )

if you think they are dry get a washing up bowl / bucket and stand the pot in some water (half or 2/3rds up the pot, or something like that) for 5 minutes. That will ensure it has soaked up enough water, and got the compost moist. If you water a dry pot the water might find an "easy route" through the compost and all leak away.

You should be able to notice that the pot is "light" when you stand it in the bucket and "noticeably heavier" when you take it out. Getting the knack for feeling that weight difference will enable you to tell when it is dry ... with experience you can do that just by tilting the pot slightly, and judging if it is "Light/heavy" as in "Dry/Wet"

 

Thanks. The plants are sat directly in the ceramic pots, not in an inner plastic one. Should I remedy this?

 

No that's fine. Looking at the photos again what I thought I saw as a plastic inner pot i s in fact a bit of inner unglazed pot showing below the Blue glaze. Sorry about that ...