Acer Problems - To cut or not to cut ?

Hello All,

My first post here and hopefully not the last!

I have a bushy acer that this year doesnt look at all its best.

It has some branches that have failed to produce anything, and a couple of branches that had fresh growth that got caught by the late frost.

I already know that acers prefer shady and sheltered. but i have seen plenty of acers doing fantastic in similar places near by.

If you look at the picture you will see the branches as mentioned above. You may also notice that some of the branches have whitened bark. Does anyone know the cause of this please?

So onto my main question, should I cut out the more dead looking branches and hope for the best from the sprouts that are coming up below? Or will these branches recover latter in the year or even next year?

Many Thanks in advance

Alex

 

I've had whitened bark on my acer it's dead wood, I leave it until it's the proper time to prune then cut back down to the dead wood unless it drastically changes the shape of the acer.

 

Thanks for your response, sadly it will make it a rather ugly bush.

Worried that if its a disease that it could spread to the rest of the healthy branches.
Should i do it now or put up with an ugly tree fro the summer?

If I was to prune them now is there anything I should do to seal the wounds of the pruning? Preventing any further disease?

There a quite a few fresh shoots coming from the base, so hopefully if I cut the bad ones out, then I can train the new branches back up to fill the gaps.

I have already bought some fleece to protect plants from flash frost next year.

Thanks Again

 

I would cut the affected branches back now to healthy emerging leaves Alex.
Acers often suffer die back after winter
Incidentally, is yours in a very wet situation?
I would also feed and mulch now
Doghouse Riley grows the most impressive Acers here on the forum so hopefully he can offer some further advice
No, don’t seal the wounds.

 

Thanks very much, I feel this has to be the way forward.

Looked so good last year too, had high hopes!

It cant be too much sun because it was fine last year and we had some serious heat!

I did wonder about drainage after seeing gardeners world on Friday. I am in a clay area and guess it could be considered damp and a bit boggy during winter...

I didn't prune at all at the end of last year. Perhaps that didn't help?

The frost was definitely partially to blame as it killed 2 branches worth of fresh growth!

Thanks

Alex

 

A feed and mulch as well as kinder warmer weather should help too Alex

 

So Thanks for all you input, did a cut back of acer and even though its a little bit of an odd shape all new sprouts seem strong.

Gave a good feed and mulch too... and looks much better! Thanks