Japanese Maples

[lesofprimus]

What about my damn bug problem???

[Erich]

Les go back to the last page.......read my post ~ (safer sap) some of the organic soaps have a light insecticide base that is safe to be around and death on crawlies, ask your local nursery, they may say something as stupid like go out with a flashlight and pick them off yourself but who knows. every nursery is different, I already have aphids on a large green palmatum in my backyard and fortunately the local warbler migrants have been coming in a gleefully picking them off. sometimes there will be elongated gaps or holes and this is actually frost, and climate problems-disease that attacks and next day gone, have seen that on my maples yearly.

funny I was going to write up a book some 15/20 years ago on these trees but .............yeah everyone knows how that goes, too much in the way.

[ccheese]

FYI, ladybugs will eat their weight in aphids per minute. Whenever I find
a ladybug I will put it in the greenhouse. I usually have aphids in there
because of the heat. Aphids thrive on heat. For some reason, they don't
like cactus !

Charles

[Erich]

aphids like high humidity levels when the temps get to 100F consistantly the hot air will actually dry them out along with spider mites and other insects

because of our wet warm/cool springs aphids and other sucking insects are readily available to devour anything in their path, another indicator is ants of all sizes and varieties "milking" the aphids. if you see ant trails going up and down trees you can bet either aphids or scale crawlers on the branches

My trade is actually as an arborist/entomoligist for over 25/30 years besides a host of other retarded jobs.

Ladybugs are here and there they come for about a month and move on, as you Charles are keenly aware grab em and place em and let them go nutz over your young trees/plants. In the natural setting ladybugs will only stay as time permits, they are an insect and easily seen and tasty food by birds..

mowed off the backyard and checked over the backyard maples, the leaves are unfolding but slow to put on size, it's early yet, by mid-May they are full flung open, have got some major pruning of dead on one red variety and some major repotting on 2 next year

my 2 cents

[ccheese]

Just about all my JM's are open. I will have to get the camera working
and snap some of this beauty. Grafting will start about the last week of
July, so I have to clean up the garage. I put the new grafts in there on
a heated sand-box til I know for sure if ther're going to take. I don't have
too much dead to trim out.

Charles

[Erich]

well its time to prune the maples of any size this month before the growth hardens off. just pruned part of our Maple forest yesterday and have the largest Dissectum out front to do. the 4 J. maples in the backyard are done though watching one limb which looks terrible and the growth sporadic up and down the major branch - will probably just prune the whole thing off. I also noticed that snails luv new seedling leaves as all mine are stripped right off the little buggers, but as long as they are watered they may re-sprout in our area in July, have noted that on larger specimens due to non-water and sunburn severities