Hello fellow enthusiasts, I'm looking for some advice.
I've had this trident maple since winter. It's planted in regular, all-purpose potting soil and has a bit of gentle fertilizer (NPK 3-1-3). When the leaves first came out in spring they looked green all through, but over time went brown at the tips. I assumed this was because we had a wet spring and earlier summer here on the Gold Coast, and it got pretty wet outside. But even now the new leaves are coming out with burned-looking tips.
Any ideas for why this may be happening or what I could do to improve the health of the tree?
Hi Duncan,
I had similar here in Perth just 2 weeks back happen to my Acer Palmatum (Japanese Maple). We had a few days of extreme heat with very warm/hot winds and it burned most leaves.
What I heard from some people at the Bonsai Expo in Perth was that you could try to either put the tree in a shade position (partial where it gets morning sun but avoids arvo), this helps.
Others thee mentioned they use some sphagnum moss over the pot during the very hot days to keep the moisture in + move to a partial shade.
Finally, from one of the bonsai nurseries here, I learned that it if you have burnt leaves (that are mostly burnt in terms of surface) you can clip them off at this time and the tree will likely push some buds out (not many though) which can still give you some of the nice autumn colours still.
Cheers!
Hi Duncan, I have a trident maple that I had/ am having exactly the same problem with. I found that moving it to a spot with less direct sun time has improved it a lot. I am in Brisbane and I think the QLD summer sun is a little too much for it. I still get a few random burnt leaves when we have had numerous really hot days but nowhere near as many as I was getting. Hope this helps