Tropical Style

How to Boost a Japanese Maple in Alkaline Soil

June 7, 2022

With finely divided and often colorful leaves, Japanese maple can add an elegant Oriental touch to your landscape. But it prefers slightly acidic soils, using a pH less than 7. If your ground is more alkaline, it could lead to an iron deficiency known as chlorosis, where the leaves turn yellow while their veins retain the original hue. A foliar spray of iron chelate may temporarily alleviate the issue. For a long term solution, you should gradually acidify your maple’s soil.

Test the pH of your soil in the event that you currently possess a Japanese maple or plan to plant one.

Apply either aloe elemental sulfur or cottonseed meal the fall before you plan to plant your tree, even if the pH of your soil is above 7. Use 1 pound per 100 square feet for sandy soil. Increase that number to 4 lbs per 100 square feet if your ground includes lots of clay.

Mix the sulfur or supper into the top few inches of soil and water it in thoroughly. Use the same amount to treat a tree already in place. Eliminate any sod from beneath the tree and then distribute the sulfur or supper from the bottom of the back out to the drip line before digging it in. Refrain from digging too deeply, as young maples have shallow roots.

Make another program in the spring. Mix it into the ground, and 2 inches of compost. Then plant your tree, even if it isn’t already in place.

Water the soil thoroughly and add several inches of acidic mulch, such as pine or cypress bark, old sawdust, or pine needles. Keep the mulch away from the back.

Test your soil again in the autumn. Continue making applications of sulfur or cottonseed meal in autumn and spring, so long as the pH level remains above 7, raking back the mulch to do so. Feed your tree with a brand new layer of compost each spring.

See related