Deformed Leaves on Pushing Arakawa Maple

[eeeealmo]

Hey Everyone! I've been growing an Arakawa Japanese Maple clump for a couple of years. Last year it grew fully untouched all season (in perfect health), and in the fall I did a big cut-back on all the extensions that grew that season.

When it flushed out this spring, some of the trees have the deformed leaves seen below. I've sprayed it with Infuse and put granulated clearys3336 on the soil already, but wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts so I can catch any serious problems ASAP. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks a ton.

 

[shohin_branches]

Could be a calcium deficiency

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Looks an awful lot like a root issue. can’t see using any more hazardous chemicals to solve this issue.

Have you used any fertilizer?

Best
DSD sends

 

[Shibui]

Deformed leaves on maples is relatively common in initial Spring growth.
There have been a number of causes proposed for this condition from Fungal, Bacterial, and pests sucking on the buds before they open. Most 'cures' are based on the condition disappearing after a treatment is applied.
In my experience the condition is short lived and subsequent growth returns to normal, even if you do nothing. I had this, or something very similar, for a couple of years. I did not get around to treating it and it disappeared each year. I have not seen it in my trees for 5 or 6 years now without (consciously) changing anything or treating with any product.

 

[MHBonsai]

I fought a similar issue for years - eventually tested my water PH and found I was 8.5+ph. Adjusted it down and my issues are gone. Might be worth a quick test.

 

[shohin_branches]

I agree with @MHBonsai don't just guess and apply treatments, test first to find the cause. Start ruling out causes one by one. I keep a jeweler's loupe in my shed to check for pests.

 

[eeeealmo]

Thanks for all the replies everyone - some notes :

• Only use RO or rain water, fertilize with osmocote plus & fish emulsion - so calcium deficiency seems unlikely
• Have inspected all of the trees in the group and found no signs of pests (others have looked closely as well and found nothing)
• I have sprayed fungicide (infuse) and pesticide (broad spectrum Monterey) on the foliage over the past 2 months

My hope is that I simply sprayed too early and damaged the buds/new leaves before they were strong enough and the malformation is just a result of these chemicals and physical damage.

I agree with @MHBonsai don't just guess and apply treatments, test first to find the cause. Start ruling out causes one by one. I keep a jeweler's loupe in my shed to check for pests.

Does this mentality mean you only re-actively apply treatments when you see a problem? I was under the impression we should be regularly spraying fungicide and pesticides as a preventative measure.

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[just.wing.it]

Looks like the reason I gave up on J Maples.

 

[Shibui]

Does this mentality mean you only re-actively apply treatments when you see a problem? I was under the impression we should be regularly spraying fungicide and pesticides as a preventative measure.

I also only treat a problem that exists. Adding chemicals into the environment when not required is not my idea of looking after the Earth. Waste of resources, waste of time, waste of money and we have no real idea where most of those chemicals go or the unintended consequences.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I was under the impression we should be regularly spraying fungicide and pesticides as a preventative measure.

I would like to try and convince you of changing your impression.
1. Fungi, fungal spores need to be active to take up anything that kills them. In low temperatures they are less or not at all active. So treatment wouldn't be effective and you're just polluting your surroundings.
2. By exposing your surroundings to chemicals, some microbes will increase their armory to include resistance to your chemical, that is what they have been doing for 4 billion years. If evolution is not your cup of tea: science and observation has proven that god designed these microbes in such a way that this happens all the time. Over that timespan, they developed mechanisms to steal these resistances from dead, dying and even live microbes. These mechanisms can transfer from fungi to bacteria and back.
3. Once resistance happens, it is enforced by the presence of these chemicals and then hardcoded into the microbe's genome because it's so useful; they will not survive without it.
4. We decide what the good and bad microbes are, the chemical does not discriminate: it blocks a biochemical pathway that plants sometimes also have, and knocking the cooling system out of an engine doesn't destroy it, but it does hurt the machinery. Similar things can happen in your plant, they can be temporary, but also forever lasting.

In general, my conviction is that we don't treat anything and instead keep the plants at prime health. It saves money, worries, time and unnecessary "polution". If that fails, we identify the problem and treat for that exact problem and nothing more. Like how you don't get a brazilian buttlift if you just want a bandage - no problem if you want both but they're separate things. The more you meddle in the biological system, the higher the chance of errors or mistakes becomes.
This method of tackling issues decreases the chances of resistance, it decreases resistance persistance (Don't need the extra luggage? Remove it!), it saves you time, it saves you money, it allows the plants microbiome to flourish and also help build protection against pathogens, and it allows you to single out symptoms and treatments.

Preventative care in plants makes sense if you have a 10K USD plant. To save a 25 dollar maple with the risk of producing a disease that wipes out your whole stock and cannot be treated against anymore.. Yeah, that's not really worth it.