Although they're under shade cloth, my Japanese maple seedlings are still getting scorched.

[Paradox]

The soil stays wet for a long period of time. I put my finger in the soil as a test. One of the seedlings is in a faster draining soil and that one dries out every other day.

All my other plants I have to water daily it's only these that are in a heavier mix.

OK well IDK. Scorching usually is heat and too little water

Good luck figuring out why your trees leaves are looking like that. Not sure about them being too wet but Dav4 did mention it.

 

[Toshi]

OK well IDK. Scorching usually is heat and too little water

Good luck figuring out why your trees leaves are looking like that. Not sure about them being too wet but Dav4 did mention it.

2 immediate solutions I can implement are to mist the leaves and move the trees to keep from touching the cloth.

Regarding the soil staying too wet I'll just have to be more mindful of my watering schedule I guess, I'm not sure what to do about that.

 

[Toshi]

Not to mention the fact that all forests would be decimated whenever it rained.

Yeah I feel a little silly after reading comments like these

 

[Toshi]

Scorch issues are just too much transpiration for the roots to keep up supplying water to the foliage. If you haven't got root damage it's either wind, low humidity, minerals in the wind (usually only a problem right next to the ocean), or too much heat. With a shade cloth up on a balcony I'd say it's a hot wind causing scorch. Misting foliage will help if you're confident you're watering enough or suspect root damage. Otherwise, more water. Preferrably cold.

It's very windy on my balcony and I routinely have to bring some trees in if we're expecting inclement weather.

 

[ShadyStump]

Regarding the soil staying too wet I'll just have to be more mindful of my watering schedule I guess, I'm not sure what to do about that.

Someone mentioned the chopstick trick, and it really does work. You can get a much better idea what's going on under the surface of the soil than with just your finger.

 

[Toshi]

Someone mentioned the chopstick trick, and it really does work. You can get a much better idea what's going on under the surface of the soil than with just your finger.

Off to the dollar store I go :] @Paradox

Thank you to everyone for your input, I hope to have a positive update in a couple of weeks.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Your issue appears to be not enough water. I'm in Long Island and although we are a few degrees cooler than you its been very hot and humid. I don't have any shade cloth and my trees are basically in full sun all day. I've only had a little leaf scorch on my hornbeems/beeches (and most of these are in dense soil from the bonsai shop and I haven't repotted). The JMs (all in bonsai soil) all are all loving life. I water first thing am and my son will hit them again in the early afternoon when the air temp is over 90 or even if lower and the sun is strong. I have found, however, that the JMs I have in the ground as landscape trees have experienced leaf scorch for the simple reason that I do not water them as I should and surely nowhere near the frequency of my bonsais.

The best advice is to water your trees when they need water - as frequent or infrequent as that may be. After that, I would say that if your trees are in bonsai soil its hot out, err on the side of caution and water. Neither wet nor dry is good for our trees, but wet may be a little more difficult to achieve under these conditions. I would assume that if I watered an extra time every day last week, my trees would basically be fine. If I didn't water for 4 days I'm fairly certain my entire garden would be dead.

 

[Toshi]

Your issue appears to be not enough water. I'm in Long Island and although we are a few degrees cooler than you its been very hot and humid. I don't have any shade cloth and my trees are basically in full sun all day. I've only had a little leaf scorch on my hornbeems/beeches (and most of these are in dense soil from the bonsai shop and I haven't repotted). The JMs (all in bonsai soil) all are all loving life. I water first thing am and my son will hit them again in the early afternoon when the air temp is over 90 or even if lower and the sun is strong. I have found, however, that the JMs I have in the ground as landscape trees have experienced leaf scorch for the simple reason that I do not water them as I should and surely nowhere near the frequency of my bonsais.

The best advice is to water your trees when they need water - as frequent or infrequent as that may be. After that, I would say that if your trees are in bonsai soil its hot out, err on the side of caution and water. Neither wet nor dry is good for our trees, but wet may be a little more difficult to achieve under these conditions. I would assume that if I watered an extra time every day last week, my trees would basically be fine. If I didn't water for 4 days I'm fairly certain my entire garden would be dead.

I'm definitely struggling with watering properly. I can water them in the morning, come back the next day and the surface of the soil will still be moist.

All my other trees are in a mix of black lava, turface and pine bark and have no issues. If they're still alive next year I'll have to use a better soil mix than what they're currently in.

 

[hinmo24t]

i feel your pain. im in MA and its been similar, very hot and humid. i have mine behind garage for 1130 AM - 7PM sun under 40% shade cloth. im getting slight burn on some of them but not as bad as you. Ive been watering them daily for awhile, theyre not in huge pots (the way maples prefer

fun trick is spray garden hose onto the shade cloth and make it rain/mist/water them that way

good luck

 

[0soyoung]

Very humid is not consistent with any kind of desiccation.

 

[sorce]

Keeping the pot cool with new cold water everyday is more important than waiting till they get any kinda dry.

Splitting the hot part of the day with cheap auto sprayers in the day around 1, preferably pumped from an underground rain barrel, is the way to go.

Too much water has never been outside a trees ability to adapt, they also do this all the time too.

Sorce

 

[dbonsaiw]

Keeping the pot cool with new cold water everyday is more important than waiting till they get any kinda dry.

Too much water has never been outside a trees ability to adapt, they also do this all the time too.

I have a similar mentality in the summer, especially in bonsai soil. I'd rather provide my trees with more water than deprive them of fresh oxygen and risk the soil getting too dry art times.

 

[Rivian]

Some weird wives' tale that originated god knows where.

Certain plants do get scorched in exactly that way. Ive done it a number of times over the years.
Its plausible that it can happen with some tree species in some environments as well

 

[Katie0317]

Question...Where is the shade cloth in relation to the sun? If the sun is in front of the shade cloth it won't do anything. If you can draw a picture...(Can be a crude one) of where the shade cloth is in relation to the trees I think I can help or describe with words.

There's no reason that cloth wouldn't help if placed in the right place to block sun. It's misplaced I believe, It's definitely not the cloth.

 

[AJL]

Question...Where is the shade cloth in relation to the sun? If the sun is in front of the shade cloth it won't do anything. If you can draw a picture...(Can be a crude one) of where the shade cloth is in relation to the trees I think I can help or describe with words.

There's no reason that cloth wouldn't help if placed in the right place to block sun. It's misplaced I believe, It's definitely not the cloth.

I think using black fabric cant be helping your plants as it probably gets really hot if its in full sun for hours.

 

[mikeybeanzz]

These green leaf maples love the shade

 

[leatherback]

Everyone else so far is more knowledgeable than me, but I'll give you a tip on the slow release fertilizer: find some of those tea bags for loose leaf tea, and put your fertilizer in that and just lay it on top of the soil. That way you can remove it if you need to.
The release rate on that stuff can be very unpredictable, but it happens allot faster when it's hot and humid. Watering more may help keep any excess flushed out for now, and that's what people are recommending anyway.

THIS

I'm watering every 4 days or so.

in combination with this

If that substrate is through and though porous, just water every day. Remove as much of the green salt-release balls as you can.

I guess no one stopped to question "so why don't all the trees burn up when it rains during the day... all over the world... regularly?"

ahum..