Japanese red maple (scientific name: Acer palmatum Thunb.) is a small tree or shrub of the Acer genus in the Sapindaceae family, native to Japan, China, Korea, eastern Mongolia and southeastern Russia. There are many horticultural varieties, with a variety of leaf colors, tree shapes and leaf shapes, and they are widely cultivated in many parts of the world.
Japanese red maple has a beautiful appearance. The new leaves in spring and summer are red, the leaves are bright and beautiful, and the old leaves are turning green. It is an excellent new variety of foliage garden plants, whether it is planted alone or in groups. Or planted as a street tree, it can make people intoxicated and contented with its fiery charm of "red sleeves dancing among green clouds". It is an excellent new variety of foliage garden plants. The landscape is especially beautiful with evergreen trees or white walls as the background.
General culture soil can be used for planting, and placed in a semi-shady place after watering. Spray water on the branches frequently. Light can be increased when the leaves begin to expand. Apply light (nitrogen) fertilizer and water once after all leaves have spread. Place in a semi-shade area with even sunlight for normal management.
Pay attention to ventilation in summer and autumn. Potted plants should be moved to a semi-shady location around noon and pay attention to ventilation. When exposed to the scorching sun, the leaves should become scorched, curled, and fall off. Also pay attention to watering to prevent the soil from drying out.
If you want to manually control foliage, you can do it once in each of the two periods: spring and summer and summer and autumn. Too much diligence will damage the tree. All the leaves can be picked once in June and September, and bright red new leaves will grow after 10 days. Two points should be noted: first, pruning after picking leaves; second, fertilizing one week before picking leaves. Artificial control of new leaves and increased fertilizer and water are the keys to success.
If the leaves are scorched under the scorching sun, remove all the scorched leaves in August, place them in a cool semi-shady place, and apply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound solution lightly, about twice a week. In this way, bright red new leaves will grow in autumn.
After the leaves fall in winter and enter the dormant period, you can apply a thin layer of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer and perform pruning so that the branches and leaves will be more red in early spring the following year. If you encounter extremely cold weather, you should place the bonsai in a warm place sheltered from the wind or in a sunny place indoors to avoid freezing.
The main pests and diseases are red wax scale insects, cotton blowing scale insects, heart borers, aphids, etc. Methods to prevent scale insects: scrub with a toothbrush when there is a small amount, and spray with 25% imide phosphorus sulfur emulsion 1000 times to kill in severe cases. Prevention method of heart borer: Use a syringe to inject 40% omethoate solution 2000 times into the insect-infested part of the trunk. Pests that invade branches and leaves such as chafers, thorn moths, and aphids eat away at red maple leaves, causing poor growth of seedlings. It is necessary to spray with 800 to 1000 times of avermectin, phosphorus, and omethoate; dry-boring pests such as beetles and heart borers If it harms the branches of red maple, causing dead branches or even the death of the whole red maple seedlings, it is necessary to spray with 2000 to 3000 times of pyrethrin, etc., inject methamidophos and dichlorvos stock solution into the branches at the entrance of the insect passage, and apply mud to the branches externally. Seal dry.