problems with Acer

Hi, I have a beautiful, fairly young Acer ' Crimson Sentry' which we planted about 3 years ago.
the first 2 years it was lovely, with brilliant red leaves, which turned a lovely flame red in autumn before falling.
But last year the leaves turned brown and dry ( dead!) and shrivelled before falling.

And this year it looked like it was budding, but didn't!
And now we have shoots coming from the base - I am hopefully sending 2 pics.

wow it seems to have worked!
Hope someone has any ideas of how it can be sorted

Many thanks,

Terri

 

Hi,

No expert on Acers, but as with many other plants this winter, it might be that the top growth has been lost to the weather.

What you can do is carefully scratch several points on the tree, including near the tips, with your nail or a blade so the thin outer layer is removed and see if it reveals a green or dried brown or black area, the latter two suggesting that area is dead.

Clearly the roots have survived so you should still be able to get some decent growth this year, though clearly a few years to get to its former glory.

Just don't be too quick to remove the old top in case it decides to put out some new growth higher up; things have been very slow to emerge this year, many only just shooting from existing branches this month.

 

Hi @Terri Stevens I've never had an Acer tree but this link may be helpful to you

http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/aceplae.pdf

 

Thanks for the replies.
I will try the scratching thing.
I was thinking of clipping one of the thinner branches to see if there is life there.
But it' a real beauty when going well, and a lovely shape too.
Btw it's not a crimson king, which is a very big tree.
This is crimson sentry - much smaller and suitable for our garden.

 

As you have a shoot at the bottom it must still be alive. Can also see it has buds on. If it was me I'd leave it for this year and see if it improves.

 

Hi Terri...the crimson sentry what you have still comes under crimson king when I was looking on the net...some times they're in the same genetic family