Japanese Maple Advice

You know how it goes.... I bought japanese maple about 6ft tall from a well known shop, looked amazing, but now is starting to look weird.

Firstly the top leaves curled at the edges bit brown spreading to the whole of the leaf. I moved it out of full sun into shade at this point as it was very hot and I thought it might be burning. Unfortunately this has now happened in part shade (50/50) to about 50% of the plant. Its potted in a very large container, using compost and sand, with stones at the bottom for drainage. I feed it with eratious plant food every now and then, and take care not to water it too often.



The strange thing is that its July and there seem to be new buds under the fallen leaves, in fact the most dried curled leaves seem to be being pushed off by new buds. I have had 2 or 3 new leaves in July from buds, and it looks like this is still happening.

Just wanted to know if this was normal, I have read loads of advice on diseases etc, but it does not seem to be any of these...

PS Ive only just turned my hand to gardening.... and i'm a relative nooob..

 

Cheers for the reply.

The pot is not massively free draining, tried to keep a good balance between draining and never being waterlogged. I dont water it daily as I was scared to over water, and I did not use John innings compost.

I have watered it every other day when hot and if it hasnt rained for 3 days then watered it again in normal weather without sun. I've been a indoor plant feind for a few years, although I guess I can't call it gardening.... MAybe I should have watered it more in its new home.

In fact I did not use an eracious compost at all, as I was to believe all compost were slightly acidic in nature. I think I will get a soil PH testing kit and test the soil. I have however fed with eracious plant food for the last month, hoping to rectify my earlier mistake.

Seing as I have had 0% twig die back even on the smallest one I think it might be down to a combination of too much sun and wind and not enough water becuase it has been repotted / relatively young.

 

These treese DEMAND free draining soil. If you give them the conditions they need they will thrive. If you don't then you will continue to have problems
All of these trees have a second bud which will develop when an emergency occurs (like drying out and dying of your original leaves) so their appearance is a good sign that the tree is still ok
The compost is not as important as is drainage
Over watering can be as lethal as under watering and is something to be careful with. The soil should be kept moist but NOT wet
I have found myself giving a plant what I thought to be lots of water only to find that only about the top inch or so is wet
A piece of piping down the side of the pot (to get water down to the roots where it is needed) can be useful
Too large a pot is also a potential problem, as the tree is unable to use up all the water in the soil and can therefore drown and die. You are better increasing the pot size only gradually for this reason
I think you are overfeeding. In a pot they should only be fed once a year, if at all
You will kill your plant with kindness
Good luck