So when the first big heart wave hit a fer weeks back my Trident leaves did this .the tree is still strong and vigorous. I find it strange that the bleached part of the leaves still seem supple any one knows exactly what is going on here?
It looks like you have a variegated trident maple that has white/cream mixed in with the green leaves. The variegated cultivars are not often used for bonsai, but the make great garden plants and some folks like them as bonsai (I have a couple of variegated Japanese maple bonsai).
Here is a reference to one of the cultivars from Trident Maple (Acer Buergerianum): Bark, leaves, Size, Lifespan – Identification Guide - AMERICAN GARDENER
- Acer buergerianum ‘Miyasama Yatsubusa’ (Variegated Trident Maple): This beautiful cultivar has variegated foliage with creamy white margins alongside the classic green color. The fall display features a blend of yellow, orange, and red.
looking at the picture I was going to say variegated and not sun damaged also. sun damage looks different and tridents can stand quite a bit of sun.
Well it did go from nice spring weather to 103 or so in a few days .and wouldn’t the verigatin show from the time the leaves pushed out?
Variegated leaves are less photosynthetic efficient than fully green leaves due to the lack of chlorophyl. I am guessing the combination of time of year and the heat were enough to trigger the variegation.
yes. it should that is why it made me hesitate until I saw the other person’s idea that was the same as mine. look for tissue damage in those areas. sun damage looks like damaged leaves and not what that looks like which is white leaves. move it out of so much sun and see what happens. look at how it grows new leaves. I don’t have any variegated tridents but I know they tolerate full sun very well. early spring is different though and you can get scorch on the leaves from the shock. we have that problem a lot here in WI/MN because things tend to leaf out too early and then we have to take them out. It looks healthy though - looks more like variegated leaves. pictures can be deceiving though. don’t go the way of one of my friends and fixate on it and kill the tree with overcare and pest control.
Cheryl A Sykora, CIH,CSP,CHMM
Senior Industrial Hygienist
Principal
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
88 Empire Drive
St Paul, MN 55103
651-221-4085
612-619-6547 (cell preferred)
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Very good it’s been under some shade ever since this happened to it and it has put on a lot of leaves.im actually giving it some more light now that it’s doing better. No tissue damage on the bark it was essentially a stick coated with leaves. So they protected it I suppose.
we in MN/WI upper areas have ventured into using shade cloth this year as we had a bad year last year with lots of bright blue skies. this year, lots of rain and clouds but still need that shade cloth. I am using 30% aluminet for my japanese maples. tridents are in full sun and seem fine. you can also monitor health by absence of pests. listening to Mirai’s take on fertilization and health, I agree that healthy trees don’t need much pest control. dousing trees in any kind of prophylatic manner needs to be avoided as it does nothing in the long run. not believed by most of the people I hang out with though.
Cheryl A Sykora, CIH,CSP,CHMM
Senior Industrial Hygienist
Principal
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
88 Empire Drive
St Paul, MN 55103
651-221-4085
612-619-6547 (cell preferred)
Well apical is out of my budget so I use biogold . So far only things I ever get are afoda in the spring between hand removal and the lady bugs that is sorted out quickly. I count myself lucky that my trees are healthy so far.
I don’t use apical either. I am a chemist. I recognize what is equivalent and use that. I also write SDSs for a living so know how to read them. some of what they talk about borders on witchcraft in its simpleness. I still am trying to figure out how the silicates (they are silicate salts which are highly alkaline and not crystalline silica like I keep hearing being confused with it) work to remove excess minerals from the plant. I suspect is some kind of chelation process like they use on people to remove excess heavy metals but don’t know. I think they work and they are available elsewhere. Go to a hydroponics store and look around and talk to them. cheaper than apical. I have not sent anything in for analysis either although I want to just to see what I get. I think the logic is there but not how it works in the explanations.
I suspect that some people’s water is just too clean like Ryan’s and when he went to so little fertilizer, he starved his trees. I have well water and it is limestone derived so high calcium. the idea that calcium is not equally available in my water as apical fertilizers is crazy. my tridents go orange if I am not careful. magnesium takes care of it. epsom salts sprinkled on top and washed through. Everybody’s problems and water are different and weather for that matter. Never drink the professional kool-aide! that is my advice and be slow to adopt something fully.
keeping trees healthy is most important. I use fulvic and fumic acid in my liquid fertilizer applications and that seems to work. takes so long to really understand what works and what doesn’t. fulvic and fumic are sources of the all important carbon. I also use a blend of trace mineral. Have been using liquid miracle grow as the base though. considered a big no no by a lot of professionals but seems to work best.
biogold is good fertilizer. use that occasionally and also make my own tea bags. liquid needs some augmentation.
Cheryl A Sykora, CIH,CSP,CHMM
Senior Industrial Hygienist
Principal
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
88 Empire Drive
St Paul, MN 55103
651-221-4085
612-619-6547 (cell preferred)
1 Like
Very interesting post I need to go over that again.to ba you don’t live next door. I have som pretty hard water . I tested it and the dissolves solids are around 400. Think my ph is 7 also probably not ideal id like to correct this but not sure what I should do. It would be nice to have something that adjusts my water in like with my watering wand. I think my wallet is starting to smolder lol
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my water in wisconsin is more around 250. you can start by blending your water with DI or RO water to drop it a bit if that is feasible and you have a source. many people in WI/MN use rain water and think it is all about that.
I have a house in AZ (Phoenix area) and it has your level of hardness. people use RO systems there and blend. I use the water straight though. you don’t need a real fancy RO system to create better water.
if I am careful about the trees, I am okay. pomegranates, coastal live oak, olives but I have jap garden juniper that do fine. the heat is the bad actor there. water is secondary. you cannot be that hot though as tridents are impossible in Phoenix heat. yours doesn’t show the heat effects like a person would see in Phoenix even with shade cloth.
Mirai live presents very comprehensive information but the pacific northwest has different issues than I do. must always consider that when following suggestions.
Cheryl A Sykora, CIH,CSP,CHMM
Senior Industrial Hygienist
Principal
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
88 Empire Drive
St Paul, MN 55103
651-221-4085
612-619-6547 (cell preferred)
Well we had about 9 days from 100 to 112. 3 days in the 90’s and back to 100’s starting tomorrow. Few years back we had 30 days straight over 100.
I think you are doing a good job maintaining a trident in those adverse conditions. you could probably teach others.
Cheryl A Sykora, CIH,CSP,CHMM
Senior Industrial Hygienist
Principal
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
88 Empire Drive
St Paul, MN 55103
651-221-4085
612-619-6547 (cell preferred)
1 Like
That’s very kind of you to say. So far my best trick has been to use umbrellas that are ment for the back yard . Contemplating how I can put shade cloth on them so they don’t block quite so much light. The nice thin is I can close them up on days that are mild and really let the trees get some good light
Here’s one of my best looking trees. It’s a Sabina juniper 3 years in training. Every year it looks better. What more can I ask for.
those umbrellas for tables? Maybe possible to take all the cloth off the framework and put shade cloth on them? maybe create openings in them as you are not using them for their intended purpose. it would be nice if a person could buy something like that as portable shade cloth. the issue with shade cloth is that it tends to be pretty difficult to take up and down as needs change. Ryan has developed a system and I know that Andrew has one but still very large and not that easy to go up and down. Ryan always has a staff to help. Andrew is more on his own. Andrew Robson - Portland area.
humidity is very critical with understanding of temperature. I think really dry conditions together with hot is the worst. although Houston’s excessive humidity might be worse as it is difficult to de-humidify.
Jonas Duprich is tackling weather conditions in his newest book but given he is in Alameda, CA he has no first hand experience with how people have to work with their weather. It is so specific and dependent on your resources.
given what you told me and my experience with sun damage in Phoenix, AZ, the whiteness on the leaves is not what I experience - more brownness and crispy leaves. I have seen that happen with bougies inside a greenhouse though and I tell you it is not natural. never did figure out what it was caused by.
Cheryl A Sykora, CIH,CSP,CHMM
Senior Industrial Hygienist
Principal
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
88 Empire Drive
St Paul, MN 55103
651-221-4085
612-619-6547 (cell preferred)
1 Like