Hi, I had a Acer planted in back yard that I purchased last spring. This spring/summer 2011 it had lost most of it's branches (went black). Assuming it may be a disease, I dug it out. Cleaned up the soil and the grower gave me another. They had been ball and burlap and there was not alot of roots when I planted it so the fella gave me another. I realize that if it disease that caused it that it may be living in the soil? My questions is, If it is deseased and the new one comes to the same demise. What can I plant in this spot that will not me affected by the (name escapes me know, verticillium?)? I understand that I should not plant another ACER in the same spot or other Genera that will be affected as well. Any thoughts or suggestions, would be appreciated. CR
Without photos to better help determine which disease you are having problems with, it does make things difficult to analyze your situation. The branches turned black when, after the loss of the wood or during the dieback? This makes a difference to know as during then the disease is more likely due to a bacterium already in the plants system. Dead wood turning black with some grayish white rings among the black is an indication of Verticillium which may or may not have arisen from the soil. The issue here is that many of the palmatum type Maples have one to two forms of Verticillium in their plant systems of which both forms have pretty much the same modus operandi in that after a stress or series of stresses both forms can lead to a decline of the tree. If the wood turned a brown to a golden color, noticeable loss of turgidity in the wood with a definite shrinking and wrinkling to the bark (branch wilt) then the issue is more likely Verticillium alboatrum. Which may or may not be in the soil but was in the plants system all along. It is prudent to advise people not to replant a Maple in the same planting hole after a tree has perished due to Verticillium. I have replanted in the same hole but waited about five years prior to a replant. As a matter of fact the very large Acer buergerianum 'Simonii' I have was planted in the same hole of which an Acer platanoides 'Crimson King' had been in for roughly 15 years before it succumbed to alboatrum. That did not come from the soil but was in the plants system when we bought the large tree. Since we know that alboatrum can infect root systems it is indeed possible that the remnant roots can also harbor the fungus in ground. Where we are located and with the Summer soil temperatures such as they can get I was not overly concerned that the fungus could live for any length of time in the soil. Thus I waited for a period of five years to be safe and planted a Maple that is known not to be overly affected by Verticillium alboatrum and now have a 35-40 foot tall tree in 20+ years in the ground. What I am saying is in effect choose your next Maple carefully or choose a plant that has a history of not overly being affected by Verticillium. The other side of the coin is that Acer buergerianum is not resistant to Psuedomonas syingae (bacterium) if that was the pathogen that led to your trees demise and this pathogen can be harbored in the soil for long periods of time which is why most fruit and nut tree specialized nurseries fumigate their soils prior to planting their nursery stock to grow on for bare root sales the following year or in successive years - essentially to limit the spread of bacterial canker to move into the root systems of the budded trees (as per University of California IPM approved guidelines). Jim
