Refresh your Japanese Maples

If your Japanese Maple leaves are burnt, you can revitalize them. Maple leaves can burn during the summer months not only from the heat but also from the wind and our alkaline soil and water.

What to do with sun-scorched leaves (on maples & others)

To correct that burnt look, remove the foliage by gently pulling or snipping the damaged leaves off each branch.  If you pull the leaves, they will snap at the stem and leave a little bit of themselves on the tree.  If you push each leaf backward toward the stem and beyond, it will peel off cleanly at the leaf node. This should be done by mid to end of August.

Follow this with an application of fertilizer, either Master Formula 49 or Maxsea Acid Plant Food. The fertilizer gives the plant a needed energy boost, encouraging it to leaf out again. Your maple will leaf out again in weeks & look spring refreshed just in time for the leaves to color up for fall.

Remember: Schedule your fertilizing for a time when your plants are not thirsty and the day is not too hot, (it should be under 85).

Improve next years’ leaves by supplementing your feeding with Dyna-Gro Protekt through the early months of spring. Feeding with Protekt in April and May provides soluble silica for the leaf-building process. The cell walls of each leaf are tougher and more resilient against the stressors of dry summer heat.

Additionally, help your Japanese maples through the year with pH adjusting soil additives, Soil Sulfur, Iron Sulfate, or F.S.T.; Fall, spring, and mid-summer applications are recommended.  Come in for details.

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