How To Water Your Japanese Maple

hey i'm matt nichols at mr maple dot com and i'm tim nichols with mr maple dot com at mr maple we grow over a thousand different varieties of japanese maples and today we're gonna be talking about one of our most sought after topics how to water and how much water to give to a japanese maple this is a video that i think that you'll find really useful and i really hope you enjoy this video yeah we've been doing more how-to videos on here by your request and more informational style videos so we please ask you to go ahead and like and subscribe we greatly appreciate all the subscribers we recently just hit 3 000 so go ahead and subscribe and share this with your garden and friends also if you have an idea that you think would be great for a future video put that in the comment section we definitely check those out also please like our this video subscribe to our youtube channel sign up for our weekly emails on mr maple dot com we had 10 new fun exciting trees every single tuesday at 10 a.m that's something you'll definitely want to check out so the key for japanese maples and water is not too much water japanese maples do not want boggy or wet feet so it's always important to make sure whether you're in the ground or in a container that the japanese maple has excellent drainage that is probably the most important thing for growing japanese maples in any condition so you're going to make sure that they're not holding water swampy boggy wet feet kind of conditions in the container we can always add you know make sure it's got good holes in the container so it's draining away and it's wicking that water away it's not holding it in and that's going to help it winter better as well now on the ground we can also do things we did a video on the perfect soils for japanese maples and basically those are going to be soils that help increase the drainage so if you're digging a hole and your hole is holding water so if you're putting water in the hole and it's standing water after a day you're definitely going to have to amend your soil because it may be holding too much water the number one thing maples do not like is constantly wet feet the number one question we have about japanese maples is how much water do i give my japanese maple and that can be very different in a number of different environmental conditions someone in texas may have to water very differently than someone in oregon so the thing you want to do is water your japanese maple then come back stick your finger in the pot see how long it takes for it to drain out maybe a day maybe two days and when it starts to get dry that's when you should water again you don't want to have a japanese maple as matt mentioned having a tree that's got very boggy or wet feet the key thing is to make sure that plant's got good drainage and when you stick your finger down there you can make sure that you're watering it the adequate amount of time for your japanese maple whenever you do that you may be different from the summer to the winter the winter you need to water a lot less than you would during the summer because that heat is making that tree dry out a lot quicker so just go in get that plant the finger test and figure out how much with your soil conditions in your environment your plant needs to be watered so japanese maples do require some water even out of leaf in those winter months so if you're going to store your japanese maple in an area where it doesn't receive natural water you want to be conscious of that the roots will often freeze dry and have harder times dealing with the extreme cold temperatures if they're staying too dry so what we like to do if you're gonna be in an area where you're say you're in zone five and you're storing your japanese maple in a shed or a garage you wanna make sure to water that japanese maple at least two to three times a month saturating the soil letting it go all the way through and then dry out completely now what you don't want to do is create soggy roots the easiest way for a japanese maple to get fungal infections like pseudomonas or other issues is staying continuously soggy during those colder months you want to make sure it's not staying boggy or wet during that but it is important to provide some water in an area where they're not getting any natural water for sure so you want to make sure to be conscious of that but not to keep it to the point where it's staying too wet now japanese maples need more water in a container than they would in the ground when a tree's in the ground it has its roots and it gets established and it'll take care of itself a lot easier than one in a container japanese maples do great in containers but when you're growing a japanese maple in a container you want to remember that watering a japanese maple that you're it's lifeline you're providing it the water for it to thrive and do well and within the container it can't really get established in anything other than the pot that means that you will have to water a tree in a container much more than you will a tree in the ground japanese maples do fantastic in containers you want to make sure you've got good drainage all the way through the pot that includes you want to have good gravel in the very bottom of the pot and where you set that tree drent down if you put it on the ground you'll even want to have it raised up a little bit off the ground you can do that with bricks you can hide that out in the landscape people won't see it or you can also do it with pot feed if you're putting out on a deck or out on a patio so just keep keep in mind when you're watering japanese maples in containers they will need a lot more water in a container than they would naturally in the ground hey tim what about a tray underneath the pot no don't do that if whenever you put huge amounts of pools of water underneath the japanese maple that will cause boggy or wet feet you definitely don't want to use those water trays underneath the japanese maple because that can cause a lot of issues like phytophthora or pseudomonas during the winter that's something you definitely want to avoid whenever it's coming to growing a japanese maple in a container now being conscious of the environment is also going to be very important to your japanese maples water amount japanese maples in full sun are going to require more water so that they're not burning and getting leaf burn you want to make sure a lot of times when people say hey check out my japanese maple what's going on here it looks like the ends of the leafs got hit with a lighter you know late summer they'll say my japanese maple has a scorch around every leaf i think i'm not watering enough and typically that is actually indicative of getting too much water so you want to be careful not to give it too much water too much water and too little water can look very similar you know but we know as gardeners what we're providing and whether our environment is extra rainy that year or and we're still watering on top of that or if we have a watering system set up that's watering other plants in the garden continuously so something to be very conscious of when you're planting your garden is not planting plants around your japanese maples that require more water than a japanese maple so you wouldn't want to have you know a particular type of plant that you're watering constantly because you're going to keep those roots that japanese maple too soggy if you're planting plants that require a huge amount of water at the bases of your japanese maples like matt mentioned with putting plants down there often people put those petunias and those annuals right at the base of a japanese maple and that may require way more water than the japanese maple so definitely don't do that because you'll be watering the japanese maple too much that's going to be an a perennial that's going to live for years and years to try to make your annuals very happy not a good idea japanese maples are very very easy to water like we mentioned earlier the finger test is a great way to do this whenever you have a japanese maple that's established or is it'll require less water than a plant that's trying to get established a tree during your first year whenever you plant a japanese maple may require getting watered more frequently whenever we plant a japanese maple we'll often go in and water it the day we plant it then come back a few days later water it again then come back four days later water it again come back a week later water it again what you want to do is have that plant get dry and those roots search out for water and when it does that those roots expand you're going to get a bigger tree out of this too but what's really happening is that tree is getting its roots set so it can be established and take up water more efficiently so it will be taking care of itself rather than you trying to take care of the japanese maple out in the landscape now also be conscious of your sun or shade for your environment for the japanese maple japanese maples in the sun are going to require a lot more water than one in the shade so if you have a shady area you want to make sure that it's not staying too wet from over watering that's a simple way to make sure that your tree tree's happy and has healthy roots keeping that root ball happy and the is the key to success for the entire japanese maple by far so that's the number one thing is not overdoing it most of the time as gardeners the way we make our mistakes isn't by ignoring our plants the japanese maple that we kind of let grow and do its thing that one looks amazing the one that gets too much love that may be the one that has some struggles the one that gets too much fertilizer or too much water you know how people say to me i don't know what's wrong with this tree my husband waters it with a hose for an hour every day and it looks terrible and i can tell you exactly what's wrong with it your husband waters it with a hose every day for an hour and it's too much water it's just too much water for the tree to consume and to take up so we want to make sure that we're being very conscious of the environment the tree's in but also the amount of water that it naturally needs in that in that condition wearing a japanese maple can be very simple some people will even make it super simple by putting a watering system out there the key thing whenever you have a watering system out there that's on a timer is making sure that that timer is set for the different seasons we talked about earlier a tree may need more water during the summer than it needs during the winter and so you want to make sure that the plant is actually drying out enough in between watering cycles so that plant will put out its roots and get established and start taking care of itself too because what will happen is say you've got a watering system and it's doing fantastic and then you take the watering system off it may not have the root system established because you've been watering it so much to actually take care of itself and thrive and do well and it may have a serious decline so the key thing to do is make sure that plant really gets to the drier side before that watering system kicks on again so the key when you're watering a japanese maple is to actually saturate the root ball so what you want to do when you water a japanese maple is completely wet the root ball all the way through then let that tree dry out completely before watering again this process is essential to developing healthy roots and getting that tree established the key process on that is letting that tree dry out throughout each step so that that phase where the tree is drying out those roots are going in search of moisture they're expanding that root ball and they're making a healthier and faster growing tree overall for sure so during the summer whenever you are fertilizing a japanese maple or the early spring you want to really make sure that you're watering that plant more frequently because that fertilizer can actually give a burn to the leaves if it's not getting enough water so it can actually take up that fertilizer so if you do fertilize your japanese maple remember you're going to have to water more frequently for fertilizing information check out our video on fertilizing japanese maples hey thanks for taking a quick look at our video on watering japanese maples we greatly appreciate you liking subscribing and sharing this with your gardening friends i really hope that you found this video very useful on watering and maybe it will help you in your future endeavors and growing japanese maples you know it may sound too simple but paying attention that water amount is one of the most important things and one of the key essential elements to grow in japanese maples it sounds too simple to many folks but it's one of those things where attention to detail is the most important thing we greatly appreciate you taking time to watch this video please take a minute and like this video comment on the comment section if you have an idea that you want to see in a future video from mr maple make sure to subscribe to our youtube channel and if you hit that bell and hit the notification side beside of it that will allow you to see every notification from our our youtube channel hey if you'd like to support our channel we ask that you continue to shop on mr maple.com we always have links in the videos to things on mr maple so definitely check that out we had 10 new exciting plants every single tuesday at 10 oftentimes we even add more than 10. so there's always something new and exciting coming to mrmaple.com we greatly appreciate your continued support thanks so much god bless and have a great day thanks for watching like this video have a question discuss it in the comments and don't forget to subscribe you can support this channel by shopping at mr maple.com

Channel: MrMaple Show

Views: 35,026

Rating: 4.9588537 out of 5

Keywords: Japanese maple, Water, How to, Acer palmatum, Maples, Maple tree, Maple trees, Japanese maples, Maple, Momiji, How much water, How to water, Gardening, Garden, Gardening 101, Master gardener

Id: QAPjL55cB30

Length: 12min 46sec (766 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 28 2020