HELP Trident Maple & Japanese Maple Problems

[Theodore]

MrBean

All I can add is make sure it is tied down as it looks prone to blowing over in the wind particularly with the trees on the upper levels.

The shade cloth with act like a sail and the pots up there give it a high centre of gravity.

I am of course assuming it isn't securely held down!

Theo


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[MrBean16]

Hahaha yeah i thought of that and drove 6 pegs into the ground for just an occasion

[Theodore]

Great, I see them now with a closer look!


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[MrBean16]

Hasn't been windy yet but we will see cause i think i can hear a storm brewing

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Reviving this thread because I have a similar problem with my trident maple.

A bunch of the new leaves have black spots on top and below (see images).





Some of the leaves on the tree are unaffected - around half have the black spots.

Any idea what this is, and how to treat it?

Thanks.

[SuperBonSaiyan]

I couldn't find the edit button...

Anyway, update: I found out what the problem was. Noticed the tree was crawling with ants so I took it out of the pot and the root ball was absolutely covered in ants. Dunked it in water for a while a few times, washed off the roots and put it into a fresh potting mix.

Hopefully most of the ants are gone... and hopefully that was the cause of the black spots. No idea what else it could have been.

[TimS]

Very strange to have such ant activity in the roots; any pests you noted there too or old fertiliser cakes or something they could be feeding on?

I used a pelletised fertiliser for a time that ants went mad for but other than that I’ve not had any any activity in the soil

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Very strange to have such ant activity in the roots; any pests you noted there too or old fertiliser cakes or something they could be feeding on?

I used a pelletised fertiliser for a time that ants went mad for but other than that I’ve not had any any activity in the soil

I think I had placed the pot over an ant hill (without knowing), because a days ago (when I moved the pot due to wind), I saw a whole bunch of ants below the pot.

I didn't think they'd have migrated into the pot though - but it appears they did.

So creepy to look at the root ball and see it shifting / creeping around.