Trident woes..

[Truth]

This is one of my coral bark Japanese Maple which seems to be having the same issues everyone else is mentioning. It leafed out in spring mostly fine, as evidenced by the normal leaves, which only have the tiniest bit of heat scorch on the tips. The new leaves however are completely destroyed before they even unfurl from the bud. This photo was taken this morning, and the buds you are seeing are part of the second flush of growth that occurs in summer.

IMG_2230.JPG

It can't merely be sun/heat scorch as the plant itself gets dappled/full morning to 2pm sun and then deep shade all afternoon. It is well protected from hot gusts or winds and is situated in a reasonably humid microclimate.

[NAHamilton]

I reckon there are two different problems being observed, and I think treeman might be onto something for the deformation on new spring growth being caused by thrips?

Cheers.

I think this is correct, due to the fact they were split between two different areas. It seems to make sense that they didn't travel to the others which were some distance away. Some of mine started to get the blackened tips again last week and I have now sprayed with confidor after after reading what Treeman said about thrips.

[Pearcy001]

Thought I'd throw an update in on mine. I didn't use anything to treat my Trident, yet it seems to be coming good again after the poor leaf stint around early November.





The new leaves seem to be lush and green now.

Mid December I moved my Trident from the decking I had made out a second story window, that had a great deal of corrugated iron nearby. I can only presume the roofing would have been reflecting the heat of the sun. Maybe the raw heat reflecting from the roof was contributing to the distorted leaves, by lightly burning the unopened buds?

In its new spot it is receiving less sun and less wind, but is already appearing healthier.

The growth had started to get better before I had moved it slightly already but since I have, all new leaves are coming out 90% of the time somewhat normal. The one problem with this new spot is the longer internodes and slightly larger leaves... Time will tell.

Cheers,
Pearcy.