Potted Japanese Maple. Winter Care.

samhagger1981

Hello. 

We have one of these in a pot. Tree is around 60cm tall, pot is around 25cm diameter.

Ours is sheltered in a north east facing corner in SE London and has lost all it's leaves... other plants locally have all theirs.

Some advice on care and watering over the winter would be great.

Uff

See my Acer palmatum Osakazuki below. It's been in the pot for 2 years and is due to be repotted any time soon. Although it's sheltered from the wind by the shed I don't pay any attention to it during the winter unless a heavy frost is forecast and then I would cover it in fleece. Note where I live though, it tends to be colder up here.

Fairygirl

They just need to be somewhere out of the wind, and off the ground to aid drainage. That's about it. I've never fleeced pots of any kind here, including any Acers. Freezing after wet conditions is the biggest problem for pots, and potentially roots, but I've never lost anything. If they're in the right site, and in decent pots, it isn't a problem. 
It's still relatively young at that size, but it may need potting on - you can do that in spring. Just make sure it has a loam based medium, not just compost. That helps with water retention in dry weather. 
Don't worry that it's lost it's foliage- they all do that at different speeds, and it also depends on the type you have and your conditions. 

bertrand-mabel

Our potted outdoors acer we nearly lost 3 years ago.

However we didn't give up and it is still outdoors and this year the colour has been so fantastic.

What do we do? Nothing!!!

It has to be able to withstand our winters and so far it has.

It is in a huge pot under an indian bean tree tree and magnolia (leaves all gone in the winter) and it just gets getting better each year.

I will regret this next year if we loose it!

Allotment Boy

I am in N London,  south facing garden most of my Acers have lost their leaves,  those in pots lost them about 2 weeks ago,  those in the ground are losing the last now. I don't give any extra protection in winter. I  have 14 in all.  Remember in Japan they have pretty hard winters, they should be fine, as long S they don't sit in the wet.