What do I do with my bald acer?

[margaritasbythesea]

I've recently moved into a new house and have been waiting for it to come into leaf and now it has it's bald in the middle.

Is there anything I can do at the end of the year to help this in the coming year

Is in the ground, or a large pot?

Do the bare branches have leaves at the ends, or are they dead?

Dead bits can be pruned out. Acers are not as delicate as they look. I’ve known them to look dead from frost only to sprout again from the bottom.

Thanks for your replies. The tree is in the ground.

It looks like a monk with a tonsure. Do, the branches have leaves on the end. A pucture from the top shows it better.

It looks like it's never been pruned. It might be best to prune it in stages rather than all at once. Google says November to March is the best time whilst it's dormant.

I got an amazing book from RHS called "Pruning" and I've never killed anything since.

Thanks. I might get that as I don't have a clue!

Hope you don’t mind me asking but what’s that big pink one next to it?Looks lovely.

I thought you weren't meant to prune acers?

I think you can prune them sparingly when dormant (early winter). They have a tendency to “bleed” sap if cut in late spring or early summer.

I prune my acer and it’s fine.

Op I have the same acer, about the same size, last year it was baldy on top, I think it was the heat/sun from the previous year. This year it’s filled in. Personally I’d just leave it, make sure it is watered, they don’t like being dry.

Re pink bush, I need to find out what it is. It has come out at the same time as an Azaelea. I'll take a closer pic when it's stopped raining. It's a lovely colour but it's been clipped into a horrible shape. I've got two. The ither one is a completely different shape.

Thanks for advice about acer.

Thank you, it looks lovely.

Here's the promised picture. I don't know what it is but my best guess is some sort of Azaelea.

Yup, Azalea.

It’s really pretty,must try to get myself one of thsoe!