help!

I rescued a very sad weeping Japanese Maple yesterday. I'm not sure of the cultivar, but it looks like Inabe Shidare. I customer from the garden center bought it a few months ago and has not been watering. When it showed the inevitable leaf drop and withering, they ripped it out of the ground, left it in their car for 4 days (yes, it has been over 90 degrees every day) and then returned it for a replacement yesterday. The crown is thick, sturdy, full and beautiful but the tree has very few leaves and looks near death. I put it in a pot with a mixture of good garden soil and a tree/shrub soil amender and let it soak in the pond for a few hours. Can I get some advice on how to nurse this potentially gorgeous specimen back to health? I'm wondering if I shouldn't pack it tight in burlap to avoid air pockets in what's left of the rootball. I'd welcome any suggestions on how to care for this foster tree and give it a fighting chance.
Thanks
Cleo

I would take it out of the pot due to drainage and root temperature reasons. Can you plant it in the shade in a compost/mulch-enriched fluffy mound of sandy organic material with drip irrigation? If it has any oomph left, that should help it recover. Then after a year or two relocate it to a permanent place. But if it really was left in the car like that, it may be a goner. I hope you didn't replace it for free after seeing such abuse.

Guy S.

After I transplant or re-pot a plant I generally hose it down real good and add more medium then drench it again to try to get rid of those air pockets as well as to settle the soil around the plant. Four days in a car seems a tad bit long for you to have any hopes of this plant making a come back but then again it can't hurt to try. Every once in a while, I will add Schultz Starter Plus Root Stimulator to sale plants that looked so/so or eh when I bought them in an attempt to minimize transplant shock. I don't know if it truly works or not as I've not been the afforded the luxury of having two plants in similar ho-hum condition where in which one was watered with Schultz and one wasn't however plants that I thought were gonners have survived and I did use the Schultz product. Maybe you could try the Schultz product? I doubt it would hurt.

Disclaimer, I only have one Japanese Maple. It is my first. I have no experience what so ever with Japanese Maples.

Thanks for all the advice. Keep it coming!

Guy, I've sunk the pot in the ground with a good mulch cover to help keep the roots evenly moist and to prevent drastic temperature fluctuation. I have it in a location with a few hours of morning sun where it can say until it has finished the rehab process. I don't think fluff would be a good idea because of the plant's sensitivity to air pockets in the root ball. I have hope. We shall see.
I was so appalled at the obvious abuse (neglect) this tree received and the insolent attitude of the customer demanding a replacement that I just walked away and turned it over to the fearless manager. It ends up that this tree was already a replacement for a glorious Silberlocke Fir they had previously slaughtered. Deal done, obligations met, no ding dang replacement or credit for the murderers. The GM gave me the tree as a gift.
Equil, your practice for drenching and topping off when you repot is a good solid practice. I'm fortunate to have a few shallow ponds to use and a good soak does basically the same thing. It's fun to watch the air bubbles rising from a dried up plant knowing that the potting medium is being saturated and the roots getting a good long drink. The drainage process and my dirty hands settle the dirt back down firmly when the bath is over. Genrally, fertilizing a sick plant is not a good idea, but in this case giving the root growth a boost with the product you mentioned might be a good idea. I'm going to look into it a bit more first, but will def try the Shultx stuff with some other plants I'm going to move in the fall. Thanks for the info.
Here are a few pics of the poor baby. Let's hope I can post a happier view in a few months.

up close and showing hope

Are you positive that's a Japanese maple? It sure looks like a lace-leafed elderberry in the pictures.

Scott

No Scott, it's definitely a maple. Will take and post a pic of a leaf when the sunlight returns.

Scott, I apologize for my abrupt response. You may very well be right. I assumed it was what the receipt said it was, but now that I've taken a closer look at the cleaned up plant, it looks like no Jap Maple I've ever seen--on the lot or off.
I'm posting some close ups of the leaves to assist further ID. Thanks again for your astute observation and feedback.
May I have a glass of wine (elderberry) with my slice of humble pie?

Hmmm, you signed up in April... left an abrupt response...came back and posted that when you took a closer look you were in need of a glass of wine and humble pie...

I'm thinking you fit in quite nicely with just about everyone here ;)

Welcome to DG! May you hang out here with us for many years to come.

I bet the people who murdered it put it in the car for 4 days so the plant would become more unrecognizable and they could pretend it was a more expensive JM rather than something cheaper. I bet if you went to their house you'd find the JM growing nicely in their yard!

I agree, the worse it looks the better chances of getting a refund or exchange.

Why, those dirty, rotten, no good . . . NO ONE here in beautiful Illinois would think of doing such a thing!!!

Guy S.

Lady Cleo,

I wasn't offended. Wasn't even really sure if there was an abrupt intention to your post or not.

If the half-cooked, sun-dried lump is indeed an elderberry, I would go ahead and plant it, if you have the room. It is very, very tough and will probably live, and it's a fairly cool plant if it does. Deer-proof too.

Scott