Hello I have a japanese maple Saotome planted 3 years ago. This year it has some highly suspicious diseased looking branches with no leaves. The branches with no leaves are discolored purple and black . Where they attach to the trunk is a grey patch . Photos attached. The tree has been healthy until now. Has not been pruned. Has a diseased entered the tree ? Any steps can I take to stop the disease from spreading? Thank you for any suggestions. Peggy
Hi Peggy, I'm afraid those branches are diseased and dying or dead. They need to be removed now. The rest of the tree looks fine 'atm', so it will produce new buds and branches again. But there is a but. Photo 1 and 3 is showing a black line starting to go up the trunk. This looks like verticulum, if so then it might not survive. But I have seen trees like this keep going for many years. It is a 50/50 IMO.
