my potted Japanese maple has some yellow twigs with no or dead leaves. The rest of the tree is thriving. What is the issue that's causing the yellow branches? Should I prune them asap as I see them? It's spring here in Australia, by the way.
Here are two photos:
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Here are two photos of the whole plant:
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At this stage, there are no obvious signs of infection such as dieback or infestation on your tree, just what look like possible problems with water shortage at times causing some new leaves to shrivel and die. There are a couple of yellowed stems - these are likely to die back and turn pale or brown in colour, at which point you can remove them, but now is not the time to cut into live wood on an Acer. Spring and early summer are times when the sap flow is high and there is a risk of bleeding if the tree is pruned then. Significant pruning should be left till autumn/winter.
If you have never forgotten to water when you should, then it may be the tree needs a larger pot, especially after 2/3 years, during which time the root material will have increased. This will make it more difficult to keep up with watering, because there's not enough soil available to hang on to moisture for long, since it's now full of root material. Alternatively, try watering more often, if repotting is too difficult whilst the tree is in active growth and in full leaf,and pot it up into something larger in autumn.
