[sorcha]

I bought a lovely acer tree in a pot at Bloom this year, with the intention of planting it in our soon-to-be revamped front garden. It was sitting happily in the pot in the back garden when we went away on holidays, with the in-laws organised to come over and water/keep an eye on things, etc. So far so good, until we come back and the poor acer looks as dead as a doornail, apparently having been blown over in high wind while we were away. It looks to me like it went for a roll around the garden, too, as most of the earth is gone from around the rootball.

So, is there any way of telling if it is indeed a write-off, or is there any sort of special care or attention that I could give it to resurrect it? I'm really annoyed because I took a lot of care picking it out and carting it home, only for it to get blown around the place the first time I take my eye off it.

[artalis]

Hi Sorcha,

Sorry about your acer, had a similar + expensive experience a long time ago.


I have never tried to save an acer, so my advice is general. Have you tried cutting into any of the branches to see if there is any pale healthy wood or pale roots inside the pot? See below>

"One way to check if your acer is still alive is to scrape a little bark off a branch with your thumbnail. If there's green under the bark, then the plant is still alive, but if there's brown or black then it's dead. Of course, if you're lucky it could be that only some branches of your acer have been affected and the rest of it is OK."

........quoting from another acer thread elsewhere



If there is some life perhaps it can be saved. Or else it may just recover by itself in this case next spring. I hope that an expert can come on line to advise you well.

General suggestions;
Planting it in a nice sheltered spot a.s.a.p. in moist acid soil may help it to recover better. If that is impossible right now, get a slightly bigger pot, some ericaceous compost and loamy soil ( J. Innes no 2 or 3 ), add some drainage material at the bottom of the pot, and repot, re-positioning the pot within a sheltered area or by a windbreak. Water well and slowly.Top dress with a thick mulch to prevent drying out.

Cut back damaged branches ( in the dormant period between Nov-Feb) to a healthy growth point/ outward facing bud? Top dress in spring with a decent fertiliser like 10/10/10.

Hope it recovers,
artalis

[walltoall]

Nothing wrong with any of Artalis' comments, but you got yourself a dead acer. The fact that it was out of its pot, blown around the garden and the soil was gone from the roots is a dead give away. Do what Artalis suggests anyway. But that tree has been dehydrated beyond redemption. If you had got it into a new pot filled it with soil tamped it down and then put the whole pot in a large bucket of water for 24 hours the MINUTE you found it, you MIGHT have saved it but I doubt it. Sorry about that. Start over. Young trees must have moisture permanently and a bit of sun. lol

[sorcha]

I think I got myself a miracle, because I scraped off a bit of the bark in a couple of places and it seems to still be alive! The smaller branches seem to be dead, but the trunk and the main branches seem to be hanging in there, amazingly. I don't know how long it was out of the pot for, but I've repotted it (there's a still bloody big phormium in the garden where it's supposed to go) and it's been getting regularly saturated the last few days, the weather we've been having. I've got it in the least windy place I can find and I'll get something to mulch it asap. I guess the plan should be to keep it well-watered and keep an eye on it until it's time to cut it back, so. Thanks for the advice, both of you!

[walltoall]

Sorcha
Bury the existing pot any darn place at all in the garden. Just dig a hole and do it. Plants in pots standing on the ground never thrive. And just keep it from drying out. Don't drown it. Burying it also stops it being kicked around.
Shaun

[inishindie]

Good news about the tree....aren't they just fabulous how they survive.....?

[artalis]

Hi Sorcha,

That's great that your acer has survived, just a bit of shelter now etc and hopefully it should be fine for spring.

artalis