My Acer has gone crispy!

[MereDintofPandiculation]

We have an Acer palmatum dissectum, planted in neutral clay soil at the north of the house. Three days ago it was doing its autumn stuff, bright red leaves. Yesterday,all the leaves had gone crispy. Therefore, one assumes, lack of water. Improbable that it’s straight lack of water because we’ve had a lot of rain recently and the soil is certainly not dry. We’ve had one day of strong winds - gusts to 45mph - but the garden is sheltered so I’m not convinced by that. So fungus? If so, what?

I think it probably is just Autumn if the tree has been healthy otherwise all year. My big Acer, in a similar situation to yours, was looking glorious last week but is sadly bare now.

Probably not the best way of putting it but trees make 'decisions' about things based on the conditions. If the temperature was colder (especially if its north facing) for a few nights it may have just be a case of 'right, it's getting wintry, time for these leaves to drop and get hibernating'.

Thanks @ForPearlViper. But if a tree decides it’s winter, it drops its leaves. This Acer is hanging on to its leaves, but they’ve all crisped up.

Yep….acers lose their leaves in autumn…mines been bald for 2 weeks here in Newcastle. Every year it comes back bigger, stronger & redder than ever!
Acers aRe notorious for being temperamental regarding soil conditions & disliking wind… mines moved house 3 times with us, been in a pot, in a border, moved to the middle of the lawn & is now subjected to winds from the North Sea…nothing seems to phase it! It’s my favorite plant/ shrub in the garden.

I have an acer too and it's just dropped its leaves. They looked crispy and emergency-room situation before that so I would imagine it's fine and just doing its thing.

Sometimes if the weather is a bit wonky, they don’t drop their leaves because the temperature hasn’t been at the right spot for the right length of time for the tree to produce the chemical that makes the leaves drop. You then get to look at scabby attached leaves for the winter.

But mine hasn't dropped its leaves. In 30 years the leaves haven't gone crispy, and none of my other acers have crispy leaves

@yamadori any suggestions?

They're still bright red though. I know the effect you mean, but it doesn't look like that. At the moment it should have bright red leaves which it hangs on to for a while before dropping then. But what it actually has is bright red crispy leaves.

Following with interest as my little acer in a pot has had crispy brown leaves for about 8 weeks! I am very much a novice gardener and thought perhaps it had been scorched by the sun (despite it being a cool summer); but someone else suggested it could have been over watered - hoping it recovers in spring.

Sounds like leaf scorch, which acers are prone to. It can be caused by environmental stress - ie the very changeable and extreme weather we have had this year, and strong winds can certainly trigger it.

The leaves will fall soon anyway and it shouldn't damage the tree itself, which should be fine next spring.

This gains to mine every year aged it always comes back fine

Thanks @TonTonMacoute and @WitchyBits So it looks as if I'm not going to have a "planting opportunity" then?

It's a dissectum, so my money would be on the wind.

Thanks @Yamadori Soit's been desiccated. What are the chances of it coming back in the spring?

I've got an ordinary Acer palmatum the other side which died back to the base one year to the extent that I sawed through its dry and lifeless trunk. About 3 years later it threw out a small shoot, and has grown some more each year since. It's not a shapely tree, but it is a welcome splash of red on that side of the garden.

@MereDintofPandiculation Once the leaves turn, then the tree doesn't really need them any more, it takes out all the sugars and other nutrients and stores them in the bark, buds and roots. The colour of the autumn leaves is determined partly by genetics and partly by chemicals and toxins the plant doesn't need, so it wouldn't waste any energy trying to save them. My guess would be that the tree thought "Stuff this for a game of soldiers, I'm going to bed" and it will be fine next year. Take a close look at the branch tips and you will probably see that there are plenty of buds where the leaf stalks join the branches. You could clear away all the leaves as they fall, and give the tree a quick spray of Roseclear with fungicide (or equivalent) to prevent the tree from harbouring any nasties over winter.

Literally is because it's Autumn.. Same has happened to mine. (I have 3 acers.)

Not necessarily. The leaves would normally change colour, then go brown and fall off a few at a time. You wouldn't expect a tree to go from full autumn colour to crispy all at once in so short a time (I have about 30 acers).

Mine too. Acer Garnet. Does it every year.

Mine went brown and lost its leaves suddenly in September. Last year it did similar, but survived. Three years ago its companion lost all its leaves suddenly (after going brown and curly), and still appears to be dead (I live in hope!).

@MereDintofPandiculation Do the leaf stalks still have any colour and bendiness to them or are they brown and crispy as well?

@Yamadori It's not the usual autumn shedding because the leaves are all crisped up, which doesn’t usually happen, so I'm happy to go with your diagnosis of wind (which increases water loss from leaves to a level that the plant can’t keep up with, which was why I said it had been desiccated) - I think that’s the most likely, after the storm about a week ago. Fungi etc can be quick but not usually that quick. So I’ll not spray, as we don’t use chemicals in the garden, and just keep my fingers crossed.

Do the leaf stalks still have any colour and bendiness to them or are they brown and crispy as well? I didn’t look closely. I presume they’re ok because the leaves would have shed if the petioles had died. There’s quite a few dead branches underneath that have accumulated over the years - invisible under the foliage, the “tree” is only 0.75m high so you only ever see it from above. But the top branches hadn’t changed colour at all. I’ll try and look tomorrow.

I think it's wind burn.

I have quite a few acer palmatum and one of them, with dark red leaves, is very prone to it.

I planted another fast growing shrub nearby and accidentally created protection for it, so now most years the problem doesn't occur or is much less.

I'd just clear away all debris then, once the leaves decide to let go, and prune back the obviously dead bits in spring just as it is about to leaf out.

Clay soil you say... is the area a bit waterlogged? If so, maybe wiggle a garden fork in to full tine depth and aerate the soil about a metre away from the trunk, to open up the soil structure a bit. You could then give it a top dressing of ericaceous compost.

One of mine has done the same. But I can see healthy looking buds ready for next year, so I think it will be fine.

Clay soil you say... is the area a bit waterlogged No, it’s near the house, raised above the adjacent path, and at the top end of the garden. Never had wind burn before, but maybe it’s that the storm was mid Oct, ie earlier than usual (like the 1987 storm which felled whole woodlands in the SE because it caught the trees in full leaf)

Mine has done the same and my lliac went the same way too. No winter display just crispy leaves.