help with my acer please.....

Hi

My acer, palmatum (sp) princess, has very fine leaves and the tips are looking a bit 'frazzled' (dry and crispy looking). I got the tree around 2.5 months ago and it wasn't like that before. It is still in the same pot from the garden centre.

Not too long after i got it home it dropped some of the leaves at the ends of the branches, however, where these leaves had dropped, there were small 'nodes' and so new, healthy leaves appeared in their place. Is this normal behaviour of an acer?

How can i stop the leaves going crispy? It is in a shetled spot (against the back wall of the house) and only has sunlight in the late afternoon so its not strong sun. Also, i haven't watered it recently (with all the rain) - the last time i watered it was when we had those boiling hot few weeks and i only watered it when the compost was dry (as i understand they don't like to be watered too much?) so it meant i watered it probably 2-3 times per week. The soil is free-draining.

Thanks

 

Hello Busybee Its common for Acer's to deteriorate in the way you describe. They are very sensitive to wind which is normally the issue. In your case it may also be the watering. On the nursery it will have been watered every day including days when it rained, so there's a good chance the plant will have dryed out and become damaged. My own experience with acer's has been that in the right place they will thrive. In a pot they will struggle and need a lot of attention. I think (imo) they are better off in the ground.

 

Thank you 'will ting' (love the name btw! lol)
We have recently bought a new house and the garden is a blank canvass - need to design it and lawn it etc so i can't really put it in the ground yet. Would a bigger pot help? Would you recommend i water it more regularly?

As you mention that you think they do better in the ground - i actually saw one today in the ground and it looked fab!! It was on a rather steep hill (in Bath) and wasn't particularly sheltered from the wind, maybe that would be the best thing when i get my arden sorted. Only thing is, it was a gift from my mum so i wouldn't want to leave it if i moved house - there's no way around that is there?