If you have dry, curling leaves on your Japanese Maple, the likely culprit is weak roots due to water availability. The soils may be too dry but more often than not, the soils are too wet!

Japanese Maples thrive in moist, well drained soils. They require regular watering but they don’t like to be sitting in wet, saturated soils.

City soils are compacted with limited pore space and lacking in organic matter.
When this happens, two problems will occur:

  1. Water will run off and evaporate before it can penetrate into the soil, starving the roots of moisture.
  2. Water will sit in the upper layer of your garden’s top soil, water-logging and damaging the feeder roots preventing proper sap flow through the tree.

The best way to get your Japanese maple looking its best is with a little soil renovation program.

What does soil renovation entail?

  1. We use a compressed air tool to open up columns and aerate the soil without damaging tree roots. This allows for better drainage and oxygen access for your roots.
  2. We back-fill the created columns with a special compost that includes BioChar. BioChar works by preventing recompaction of the soil AND by acting as a sponge to hold and retain the right amount of water in the soil.
  3. We will install our aeration tube device to make sure your tree is able to access water and oxygen at the root level.

By making sure your Japanese Maples have a strong root system and access to the oxygen and water they need, we can keep them looking like the stars of your landscape!

Be good to your trees.



Kristie Nairn, MA, MMst
Cohen & Master Tree and Shrub Services Ltd.