Help with Katsura issue please

Hi,

I ordered an acer Kazura from Crocus and had to wait longer than expected for it to arrive, which is perfectly understandable during these exceptional times. When it finally arrived it was a bit battered with brown borders around some leaves. I blamed the delay in delivery and potted it straightaway. I used John Innes Ericaceous compost with added grit, drilled extra holes in the pot, added small pebbles at the bottom, put it in a sheltered corner.... all the things I read you need to make your acer-friend happy!

Unfortunately it doesn't look any happier and the new leaves seem to be browning too. What should I do???

I should say that I also got a tiny acer Butterfly from a local garden centre and I potted at the same time using same compost mix, etc. etc. It is doing fine with no brown bit on its minuscule leaves (they are so cute!).

It took me forever to chose the Katsura and now I'm very worried that I'm killing it so any help will really be appreciated.

Thanks!

Ding​

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Thanks Armandii, that's reassuring. I'll move it to a more sheltered position as the weather has been so variable lately.

I have to say that your Katsura looks beautiful, exactly the reason why I ended up choosing it after a long pondering

 

Hi, I ordered a Katsura tree from Gardening Express along with a few other shrubs last year. Everything is flourishing apart from the Katsura tree which looks almost dead, apart from a couple of leaves which have appeared at the base. As a relatively new gardener, I don’t know if I should leave it alone, cut it back, feed it or what. The photos above make me want to persevere.

 

Can only suggest the bark scratch test, at various places down the stems.

I've got some established trees that are still leafless with only a few small shoots.

Have a look after dark, I've know snails or certain caterpillars to take out every shoot a tree makes.

Is there a chance that the first shoots were caught by a late frost?

 

Hi Pete, thanks for your suggestions. I’ll try the bark test and I think you are right about the late frost, although nothing else was damaged in the same way. I take it that I can remove everything that’s dead?

And I’ll try to think of something to keep the snails away....

 

Well yes you can prune back anything that is dead, but I'd leave it a while longer so that it is clearer what is dead and what isn't.

 

I take it this is the Katsura tree, Cedrcidiphyllum, and not the tree the original post was about which is an Acer.

 

Yes! my order lists it as Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Katsura Tree. As I’m new to this I hadn’t noticed that the original post was not the same.

 

No, it can be confusing, it doesn't actually make much difference in this case, I just wanted to be sure what kind of plant we were talking about.

 

Hi, I did the bark test as Pete suggested and I think my tree is just “hanging on by a thread”. There are some stalks and leaves growing close to the base of the trunk so I was planning to cut it back and repot it in a smaller tub so that I can put it in the greenhouse this winter. Do you think this is worth trying? Any advice welcome.

 

Picture please of the lower shoots, it might help.
Looks pretty dead where you have scraped it.

 

Yes, had a feeling that might be the case.

 

Well I think that your only chance with it is to allow that bottom shoot grow and form a new tree.
Might take a few years to get back to the size it was though.

I dont think I would disturb it by repotting.