Question
Hi. I live in Zone 7a, Falls Church VA. I recently bought a Japanese Maple Bloodgood and planted her in a pot to grow in my living room. The thing is the guys at the Nursery are telling me that it won't know to drop its leaves if I leave indoors. What I need to know is do they need to drop there leaves in order to survive? In the mean time I have turned the A/C to 65 degrees and she is turning a nice red color.

Answer
Do not worry about it--it will drop its leaves. even IF it did not it would no effect the health of the tree. This process is more due to the shortening day light hours than to temperature. The tree starts to produce less chorophyll and the leaves turn colors. Here is an exerpt about this process and the web link to the source.

"As days get shorter and temperatures cooler in the autumn, important physiological processes are triggered that make conditions for chlorophyll production less favorable. Nitrogen and phosphorus are slowly withdrawn from the leaves for storage in twigs and branches during the dormant winter period. The loss of these nutrients, essential for chlorophyll production, coupled with the reduced exposure of leaves to light as days get shorter, gradually stops the production of chlorophyll. The green color of leaves fades as the production of new chlorophyll diminishes and the existing chlorophyll is degraded. The timing of chlorophyll loss varies among different kinds of trees, accounting for some leaves that remain green longer than others."
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-FAQ-5.html