Hello, I've been collecting maples for landscape and containers for about a year now. I was wondering if anyone had advice on nurseries to watch out for or individuals who might sell bad or injured plants. thanks
Hi Graftedmaplecollector: Part of me knows that I have to be diplomatic and I am not very good about being that way at all in regards to which growers or nurseries to stay away from. Unfortunately, the "the good old boy" standard still is in effect and I will not openly ostracize anyone in writing, not in an open forum but if need be I will in an E-Mail that I already know they will delete before they ever read it, so why do it? In person, that will be different as I've told certain people their Maples are dirty when I saw them but only after they asked me for my opinion. There is doubt even today as to what diseases are which but if you stick with the premise that all forms of Japanese Maples, even seedling forms as well, have some Verticillium in them then you will be way ahead of the knowledge curve. What I am getting at is simply this, the single most devastating killer of Japanese Maples is Verticillium Wilt period. I do not care what others say or think as they have not grown Maples long enough or have the first hand knowledge to know which end is up sometimes. We've all had to deal with the experts in Maples but it is the growers that know and have learned the hard way what is the primary killers of their Maples. It is sad that the intellectual and scientific community have done such a hap-hazard job of identifying what all is going on with the diseases of Japanese Maples but until there is funding from outside sources to our "publish or perish" Universities and our state Cooperative Extensions, then I doubt we will know more in the next 10 years than we learned first hand in the last 30-50 years. So much about Maples has to be learned over time. Whether it is to determine whether a Japonicum is a true form or whether it is a seedling selection of another form is a continuing problem for us. The best advice I can give is to know your Maple, learn as best you can where it is most likely to thrive and where not to grow certain varieties. Ask around, use this forum to ask about specific varieties of Japanese Maples and see what you get for a response. The smart way to learn Maples is go to the thread dealing with the books on Maples and buy most of them. Read them, know them and then ask questions that you are unsure of. I would like to believe many members of the Maple Society will be glad to share what they know or have learned first hand. The hardest part as always is learning how Maples look and grow from area to area. What works best for me may not work so well for others elsewhere at all and what works real well in Canada may not work for me. You also have to understand and most people are clueless here is that the "game" of growing Maples changes for the warmer climates. Most of the book authors have not grown Maples where you are so we have to learn on our own, most of the time the hard way but we will learn what we can do and what we cannot do real quick and that is the altruism that many people still do not comprehend. Then we get into factors of heat and humidity and heat and low humidity and there again there will be definite differences in how we do things. You may have to learn that some forms of Japanese Maples may require a Fungicide to help them out or to ward off various diseases that I never see where I am. Anthracnose does not bother us here on Maples (it is not that way on Modesto, Phoenix or Raywood Ash here, yet Rosemont Ash seems to be unaffected) but I bet it does have a real negative affect where you are, all because of your temperatures and your high humidity. Another form of Pseudonomas may indeed be a factor for you where you are yet it does not bother our Maples at all but it is in every Fruit Tree we have here (transmitted from grafted parent plant to newly grafted plant). There is no cure for the disease but we can suppress with chemicals or better yet by knowing what and where to prune it whereby it is not a big deal to us any more but that Bacterium will have devastating effects in other areas that are not used to seeing it or in knowing how to cope with it. We will learn who to stay away from in time but you have to learn on your own what a diseased plant looks like and what is a damaged plant and just not buy from those retailers or wholesale growers. Even then there is no guarantee that a reputable seller may not have a diseased plant and few people ever take into account that the original imports from Japan had disease problems in some of the varieties. Some varieties such as the real thing Bloodgood have shown to be excellent growers seemingly no matter where that plant is grown but Red Filigree is a crap shoot no matter where that plant is grown. I've personally seen that plant suffer in cold climates every bit as much as it does here. People have not taken the time to know which varieties will be down right tough to grow. In one of my posts in another thread I mentioned what can go on with Phytophthora with certain dwarf forms, I omitted Ueno yatsubusa but it also is susceptible to Phytophthora. How do I know those particular varieties are more susceptible than others? It is because I lost all of those I referenced because of Phytophthora. That is why and I was not alone in losing them either. Jim
That will be it for a while about Verticillium and Phytophthora. I was around when various Maple growers took it upon themselves to clean up many varieties of Japanese Maples, to which we take a lot of their work and dedication for granted. I'll cool it for a while. I will say that we did have our Maples tested by a state lab that did confirm for us that Phytophthora was indeed what killed several of our small leafed dwarf forms. Jim
Hi to all: As far as the second part of the original question I can answer that one without my expressing more of the views that others that I knew pretty well had for many years. All of the links that I provided for the 'Links to Maple Websites' thread are all people I can buy from without any hesitation. Some of them I've known longer and in some cases much better than I am letting on. A further note: The one thing I am not fond of doing is not listing the strain or species when I have referred to a disease causing organism. We've paid good money to know which strain hurt us in Maples and I am not going to give that information away "free gratis". It is because I will not divulge everything that I know is why I will shut up about particular diseases on Maples. I do feel that no one really wants to know about pathogens until some members start losing their own Maples and then a crisis situation for them may soon develop. It is better to know what might hurt you before it happens rather than after the fact but perhaps I am the only person to look at things that way. Best regards, Jim
