Japanese Laceleaf Maple (green variety) sunburned or dying?

Question

It gets afternoon sun, and the leaves are crispy and the branches look affected. Planted it 2 years ago, did fine the first summer. Put a shade screen over it but it looks ugly. Should I try to transplant it? Or will it adapt?

Answer 1

While trees can get sun burned, if  it has been in that location for 2 years I doubt that is the problem. this usually only happens when they are recently taken from a nursery where they are bunched together, creating shade, and planted out in the open leaving it to fend for itself. Or possibly cutting down a neighboring tree which was providing shade. It is normally the bark which gets sunburned, not the leaves.  It is possible that it could be a different problem called sun scorch, which is caused by intense sunlight hitting wet leaves. The water magnifies the suns rays and creates burns on the leaves. Heat stressed leaves will have a almost of an x ray appearance to them, their veins will stand out distinctly.  If it is either of these two make sure the plant stays well watered but don't keep the ground soaking wet.

It is a good possibility that your plant has a disease called Verticillium wilt .

This is a vascular disease that is very common to that variety. The symptoms are leaves drying and curling, then turning crispy.  This usually starts at the branch tips and works its way back to the trunk. There is one sure way to tell if your plant has this disease, and that would be to prune one of the thicker branches off. then make a diagonal cut with a sharp knife and look at the wood that you have exposed.  Since it is a vascular disease you should see a dark streak running up the grain of the wood.  Unfortunately once your tree gets this (if this is the problem), it is usually fatal. The best that you can do is to provide proper  water and fertilizer for the tree, and this will help prolong the plant's life.   This disease is caused by a soil born fungi so do not plant any other maples in this spot since they are all prone to the disease.