Acer dormancy

Hi all,

I bought my father an acre for Christmas from my local bonsai nursery in the south east, (England). It has been kept outside all winter and after a warmer few days a week ago it came out of dormancy throwing new shoots out very vigorously. However over the weekend the leaves started to weep and now all of the leaves look as though they are dying. I live round the corner from my dad and I too have an acer that I keep outside and mine has not shown any signs of coming out of dormancy. Has it come out too early and being affected by slightly cooler weather? What should I do to save it???

Please Help!

Sounds to me as if your Dad's tree has Verticillium wilt. It is fairly common on maples and often hits in early spring. Sorry, there's no cure. But keep it away from your tree and do NOT use the same tools between trees without a thorough bath (tools, not you) in alcohol.

another potential.

last weekend was absolutely wicked with biting easterly winds here, not sure about your dads house tho. new acer shoots will suffer very badly in these conditions and the shoots will be damaged. if the tree is otherwise healthy it will make more buds and recover but positioning in future needs to be looked at.

if it does have an illness you may be covered by commercial garden centers for 12 months for a replacement.

cheers

I think Marcus is probably on the money with this one. Given the continuing low temperatures here, I'd try to site the tree in a more sheltered location (e.g. under a bench, in an unheated shed with a window until things warm up) then wait to see what happens. I'm fairly close to you, and none of my acers are leafing out yet.

Also, make sure it's being watered sufficiently - the current cold, dry winds can lead to dehydration.

Thanks for your advice... I will let you know how it gets on.