Acer QuestionOne for all you acer pros out there
Somewhere in Rural Monmouthshire,
United Kingdom 
Acer Question.
One for all you acer pros out there.
My lovely Acer sango kaku has a problem I think.
The leaves at the end of one of the branches dried out and died and I noticed that there was a bit of black on the stem.
Cut it back to fresh stem. This was quite a while ago.
Now its happened again, dry leaves and blackish bits on the same stem and also shock horror much further down as well.
So have cut the whole stem off.
Bit concerned as there was a blackish bit near the bottom so hope the whole tree isnt infected.
so
what is it?
how do i treat it?
will it spread?
how can I stop it?
help
I should add it had a bit of a tough year last year and didnt produce the big greens leaves, just samller red/pink ones. So I gave it a new larger pot this year and it seems to like it and it like the spot its in.
The rest of it seems ok!! hmmm
http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/199633-another-shot-of-my-fave-acers/member/stevietheterrible
1 Jun, 2011
Answers
If you've still got the stems you cut off, as shown in the pictures, strip off the outer covering or bark to see if there is any streaking or staining underneath - its just I note at the end of the cut stem on the left, there appears to be a brown mark - I don't know whether that runs all the way through, or whether its just dirt off your secateurs.
1 Jun, 2011
Hello, if there are no obvious signs of pest, then it is possibly, Verticillium wilt, like a type of fungal infection which is in the soil, normally the whole plant eventually dies off, if it is verticillium wilt then you need to replace the soil, dont put it on the compost, bag it up and take to the skip/refuge centre, and replace soil, and would avoid planting anything significant in this position just in case spores affect the new soil, julien.
1 Jun, 2011
That's why I asked about staining under the bark, Julien, but I didn't want to scare Stevie unnecessarily - it could also just be dieback...
1 Jun, 2011
Hello Stevie,
Cutting a long story short, red barked Acers are very sensitive: wind damage, dry weather, damage from winter , any or all of them cause damage to these Acers. I have 3 and whilst lovely, they are demanding. Looking at your photos and my ones, I think yours are suffering dieback, probably due to wind damage and not wilt.
1 Jun, 2011
most likely die-back, been a tough winter for acers.
7 Jun, 2011
Thanks folks,
hoping its just die back but was just a bit suspicious as this particular branch had been cut back already and seemed to have a bit of darkish area on it.
Cant see any streaking along/in the cut ste. Although this is a nice spot it can get a bit of wind
cheers
7 Jun, 2011
Well hopefully its not verticillium wilts, but if it is, at least its in a pot and not affecting the soil in the garden. Only time will tell...
8 Jun, 2011
Hi Stevie. Had a word with my gardener at work. Hes very old school ,farming pedigree etc. in other words a walking wikipedia on anything that grows!!! His verdict is wind burn and may be too much water. He warned me Acers are very sensitive and demanding!!! Mines suffering too, but not as bad.........so far. His parting shot was....... Hmmm West is Best :)))
11 May, 2012
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