Acer in trouble - please help

Hello I have been away from home for 2 months unexpectedly and come back find my Acer tree struggling - colour is not normal usually much more green, few branches have dried up completely (2nd photo), the leaves as well as looking far more pale also have patchy darker areas (3rd photo). I haven’t watered it due to not being here but usually it doesn’t need much extra until the weather heats up.. and the soil was not particularly wet or dry before giving it a good water. It does have powdery mildew which I do treat on and off with dilute milk but I don’t think that’s the cause of this current problem. Advice from anyone experienced with growing Acers would be very much appreciated. Please see pictures posted. Many thanks

 

Sorry to hear of your problem
It could be a shortage of water.
Given the size of the plant the tub looks a bit on the small size anyway. In dry weather pots on patios can soon dry out.

We've two acer palmatums and they are both planted in the ground, but I still make sure they don't go short of water. Here in South Manchester we've recently had a week with no rain at all, so I put a lot of water on our garden.

 

My guess would be a combination of dryness at the roots combined with drying winds.

 

Hi @Katherine, I have an acer in a pot, it's been in it for years now, what i do every year in spring is take as much soil out from the top as i can to about six inches deep, then replenish with new soil, then mulch with manure and as others have said water regularly, it works for me.

 

Thanks all. I have wetted I thoroughly but haven’t had time to re-pot it. Can that be done this time of year? Also please see pics attached- could being dry/small pot/winds really do all this damage? It’s now gone really pink/orange like in Autumn and more beaches have dried up and many of the leaves that are still alive have strange dark patches on them. Could it be anything else?

 

Cold drying winds can cause a lot of damage to Japanese acers. The lighter the leaf colour and the the finer the foliage the more vulnerable they seem to be. Also a lot of bright sunlight can cause leaf discolouration.
Mine have suffered quite badly this year with the cold easterly winds here in Devon.