Why Does My Red Japanese Maple have Green Leaves?
I have a Japanese Maple Tree purchased from a nursery and planted two years ago. I believe it to be an Acer palmatum. My concern is that all of the new growth of this tree is green instead of the red variety I purchased. The tree is located in a shady area and receives the benefit of normal rainfall and/or weekly watering, as necessary. Why does my tree have green leaves? - Larry Hi Larry,
All true Japanese maples are variants of Acer palmatum. You have purchased a great tree but may have managed it incorrectly - hopefully not beyond recovery. Japanese Maples come in several leaf colors and forms. The easiest trees to propagate are the green-leaved varieties. So nurseries grow green root stock and graft red-leaved stock off that root.
You have allowed the green stock tree (which will sucker from below the graft) to become the dominant foliage. Your photo shows a classic example of this.
Manage only the foliage above the graft line (if you have any left) and remove all green sprouts below. The tree's symmetry may be upset for a while. Japanese maple is a slow grower and you must give it time to develop its natural form. Heavy pruning is not necessary nor recommended.
Japanese Maple With Green and Red Leaves - Photo by Larry
Comments
My tree looks just like Larry’s! Can you explain exactly what you mean by “remove all green sprouts,” for those of us who are illiterate in Forestry lingo?
It is called reversion.You need to remove all green branches and limbs. It is dominant if allowed to take over the tree and it will be is originating parent Acer palnmatum subspecies palmatum which is green. Once it reverts it will not be red any longer.It will only be red in autumn.
my leaves on my red maple start out red but turn green how do i fix this
We bought a property with a red-to-green-back-red Japanese maple, which is now 10-12 inches through the trunk. It is at least 12 feet broad, and we can easily stand under its canopy. We have a small garden set under it. Good thing we like it, because there is no hope of changing it! I’ll be interested to see if those with younger trees are successful.
Our japanese maple is 18 yrs old and I noticed the bark is coming off on 2 of the limbs. What is wrong?
Hi,
I have a beautiful “red” Japanese maple. It starts with red leaves in the spring with lovely red winged fruit. As the season progresses, the leaves turn a rust red and then to brown/green. What can I do to keep my tree red as that is why we bought it?
Thank you!
I planted my Japanese Maple in April 08. It has developed little tiny holes in every leaf and the tips are turning brown. What can I do to save it?
Last summer I had a green leaf japanese maple planted. Now this spring, it has come in with RED leaves! I don’t like the red and will have it removed, but can you tell me why this happened? Is there anything I can do? My landscaper said he has never heard this happen before..
Thanks!
Well,
There will probably not be many that read this but here is my 2cents. I bought a beautiful red Japanese maple in the summer of 07. The spring of 08 I had no growth/leaves. I asked the nursery where I bought it and they recommended and I treated it for “mealybugs”. It came back this year with a lot of growth. The leaves start off a brilliant red and then some of them are turning a reddish green, more red. I also moved it a month ago. It was in total shade with indirect sunlight under my patio cover. I still have it under my patio but it gets 4 hours or so of direct sun. It is a beautiful tree, I love it!
Henry
William,
Your post was 4/08 so you will never see this but your problem was exactly what I had in 2008. It was mealybugs and there is an oil you can use to eliminate them. I used it 4 times in week intervals and my tree looked so much happier afterward.
Henry
I bought a japanese tree two years ago but never came with red leaves… only green. I was waiting to fall to see changes to the beautiful red or orange leaves with out succes.
Maybe this is a kind of Japanese maple with just green leaves?
Any recomendations..??
We just returned to our summer home where our gardner planted a red Japanese Maple two years ago. There is one large green new growth “shoot” coming up at an odd angle. Its “branch” is quite large–about 1.5 inches in diameter. Should we just whack that off? The rest of the tree is all red leaves, and looks healthy.
I have a 20 year old red Japanese Maple and it used to stay red from spring till fall, but now it starts out red in the spring and by the middle of the summmer it is green. The leaves turn red in the fall and is very pretty. I have noticed in our neighborhood all the other red Japanese Maples do the same thing. I think the weather has a lot to do with this. Also, I have a new red Japanese Maple in the back garden, and it has turned from red to a rusty color now in August. I don’t know if it will eventually turn green or not. I suppose it is a throw back to it’s origin, the green Japanese maple.
For those with changing leaf color from red to green, start writing down the fertilizer that you use and keep a log. August fertilizer and sun has an effect on the leaf color and the ability to change colors in the fall. I fertilize only in the spring and early summer, Use nitrogen sparingly in the late summer & fall.
I think Wade may be right.
My Japanese maple, red for a couple of decades, went through some stress this summer that caused it to only grow leaves in the ends of the branches. I called my good tree company in a panic, and teh fellow said physical stress and fertilized it really well.
It has seemed to recover, and has leaves all along the branches now, but green has become the dominant color. Certainly it is not the case that a bunch of new sucker branches grew .
I hope mine will return to red next year, but as long as it is healthy, red or green leaves are fine with me.