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.