Beni Maiko suddenly dying at the beginning of Spring

[ajm55555]

This tree is a young Beni Maiko. It was repotted and pruned last year and had a nice growing season.
This Spring it was budding regularly at the beginning of March on a warm spell (I'm in Germany, USDA zone 7b).
Then we had a few cold days but with above freezing temperatures and I left it outside.
A couple of weeks ago the shoots started wilting and now I'm sure the tree is lost. The new branches are dying too. There is no sign of black spots on the trunk.
Does anyone has any clues?

Could it be root rot? This winter I paid a lot of attention not to leave it soaking when it was raining a lot or when cold days were in the forecast. I lost another maple probably for this reason last Spring.
The soil is a mix of 50% fish tank gravel, 30% pumice and the rest organic matter. I have other threes thriving in that soil.

Could it be lack of water? I've seen many times the leaves wilting and then recovering for lack of water but in this case they were fine and suddenly started wilting, drying up and becoming black.

What could I look at?
Thank you everyone!

 

[ajm55555]

 

[Dav4]

I'd bet some kind of fungal pathogen that compromised the roots or vascular system.

 

[sorce]

I've seen many times the leaves wilting

This great changes in moisture can lead to the entry of the pathogen IMO.
Just weakness.

The mix sounded dry till the organic part....
But then I thought...the organic could be hard and hold no water....?

Sorce

 

[ajm55555]

I'd bet some kind of fungal pathogen that compromised the roots or vascular system.

What can one do to prevent this?

 

[ajm55555]

This was the tree in the same pot and soil last summer (end of August).

 

[ajm55555]

This great changes in moisture can lead to the entry of the pathogen IMO.
Just weakness.

The mix sounded dry till the organic part....
But then I thought...the organic could be hard and hold no water....?
Sorce

I tend to agree to agree with you Sorce and Dav4 that somehow the tree entered Winter in a weakened state and some kind of pathogen was able to take advantage of that situation.
Maybe I should not have pruned it in the fall. I will never do that again and wait for the Spring instead.
I will also increase a bit the percentage of organic soil to the mix.

 

[ajm55555]

This great changes in moisture can lead to the entry of the pathogen IMO.

I will also try to prevent that, Sorce. Thanks for the tip!

 

[sorce]

Maybe I should not have pruned it in the fall.

I have stopped fall cutting, but I don't believe it hurts if done early enough.

Jmaple leak out in spring yeah?

Sorce

 

[ajm55555]

I have stopped fall cutting, but I don't believe it hurts if done early enough.

Jmaple leak out in spring yeah?

Sorce

I'd rather have it leaking than dead ;-) (if pruning in Fall is one of the causes)

 

[sorce]

Did you hear my last summer Vaca story?

I left with a auto water twice a day in place. 20min.
(As opposed to once a day with a can -2minutes and always wet.)

Came back to like 8 inch roots growing out my baskets.

That health difference is the one that made me stop fall cutting, and scared to repot in spring(fuck that still!), and trees die.....

Water. That simple life giving Compound.

Just Water.

Wilting is dying!

Sorce

 

[Deleted member 21616]

how is it doing compared to your other maples? (i'm not familiar with your climate)

do they all get more or less the same treatment?

 

[rockm]

How much cold was it exposed to?
Was it left outside at night during the cold snap?
This looks like a root issue to me.

 

[ajm55555]

How much cold was it exposed to?
Was it left outside at night during the cold snap?
This looks like a root issue to me.

Yes. It was cold but above freezing. I think it might have been the temperature jumps that weakened it.
Have you even seen a tree leaf out and then suddenly die?

 

[ajm55555]

how is it doing compared to your other maples? (i'm not familiar with your climate)

do they all get more or less the same treatment?

I don't have many right now...
From what I've seen the soil should be fine because the trees grow a lot of fine roots inside.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

I don't have many right now...
From what I've seen the soil should be fine because the trees grow a lot of fine roots inside.

Thanks for your response!

I wasn't asking because of soil (there's no issue with your soil in terms of survival. Healthy Maples can grow in mud as they can in 100% perlite. bonsai people get more technical, but in terms of survival, you're fine).

Just interested in how far along your other maples are? i have often seen maples (landscape and bonsai) send out weak first leaves here and there (sometimes black, which is terrifying!) but then come in strong. Are your other maples pushing their 3rd or 4th sets of beautiful leaves per shoot, or are they all pushing their first leaves right now?

 

[ajm55555]

Thanks for your response!

I wasn't asking because of soil (there's no issue with your soil in terms of survival. Healthy Maples can grow in mud as they can in 100% perlite. bonsai people get more technical, but in terms of survival, you're fine).

Just interested in how far along your other maples are? i have often seen maples (landscape and bonsai) send out weak first leaves here and there (sometimes black, which is terrifying!) but then come in strong. Are your other maples pushing their 3rd or 4th sets of beautiful leaves per shoot, or are they all pushing their first leaves right now?

I have non-bonsai JMs in large pots, which have 2/3 sets of leaves. We'll have one more week of cold nights (1-4C - 34-40F) that is slowing the push as far as I can see.

 

[JoeR]

Did you hear my last summer Vaca story?

I left with a auto water twice a day in place. 20min.
(As opposed to once a day with a can -2minutes and always wet.)

Came back to like 8 inch roots growing out my baskets.

That health difference is the one that made me stop fall cutting, and scared to repot in spring(fuck that still!), and trees die.....

Water. That simple life giving Compound.

Just Water.

Wilting is dying!

Sorce

You don’t repot in spring?

 

[rockm]

Yes. It was cold but above freezing. I think it might have been the temperature jumps that weakened it.
Have you even seen a tree leaf out and then suddenly die?

yes. I've had trees that have had roots damaged over the winter try and leaf out then do exactly this.

The damage can be cumulative over winter, if the tree hasn't gotten adequate shelter. This can be especially true in late winter here in the South, when temperatures start to jump between extremes. A day with 80 degree highs in Feb. followed by a series of days with lows in the 30s can push trees to come out of dormancy early--moving it inside and outside during the winter can accelerate this process. Once buds have leaf edges showing, even less than 1 mm, the tree's root system has lost over 90 percent of its winter cold resistance.

If this were my tree, I would keep the tree's roots moist (not soggy) and in place where it will get seven hours or so of sun. Let it alone, do nothing other than water it. Hopefully, if this is root damage, the tree will push a new set of leaves. That will put quite a load on the plant, however. If it does re-leaf, I would let it be for the year.

If it doesn't leaf out in a couple of weeks, I would pull it out of the pot and see what's going on with the roots...possibly doing an emergency repot. but you're not there yet.

 

[Johnnyd]

Sorry to hear about your Beni Maiko. I've killed a few maples last year. So I've tried to be extra vigilant this year . This may be overkill , but the trees were protected by alternating every few weeks Daconel spray and lyme sulfur 1/20. Also trees were fed full nitrogen/humid acid /seaweed until leaf drop. This year I switched to 100 percent inorganic at the recommendation of local experts.
Hope I don't jinx myself but no fatalities this year. Also this year I made space in my unheated garage to overwinter them.
Best of luck!