I am so discouraged! My tall (20') acer is doing beautifully; however, I have two older, small weeping trees 3' - 4' tall are dying. I've been told the deer are nibbling on them, but I'm not so sure about that. The ends of the branches go brown and dead up to the previous nodule (?) or further up, you can just snap them off. I was also told they were too thick and to prune out the dead branches (which I did) and they're still dying back day by day. suggestions? Thank you! p.s. This is my first posting, so I may not answer correctly...
J. Maples will do that naturally. Is there any damage to the trunk or any of the bark on the tree? You could post a picture of the base of the trunk and a wider shot of the effected branches if you think there is a problem.
David, this started about two years ago; however, this year the dying off seems to be accelerating. I don't know if they're too dry? I mulched them heavily this year and someone mentioned that they don't like that. The trunks don't look bad, the one has a couple small, pale green round spots - that's it! Will try to post a photo tomorrow - it's too dark right now. Thank you for any ideas.
Hello Diane, It is a good idea to mulch maples, but you do need to make sure that the mulch doesn't touch the trunks. However this probably wouldn't be causing tip die back, and it should help to keep the moisture in. If these trees are well established in the landscape they shouldn't be suffering die back from lack of water, if you're really having a drought you should see leaves crisping and falling off first. Such die-back is indeed common, but not so much in this season nor as quick as you describe. Also deer damage tends to be seasonal, either during the winter when there isn't much else to eat, so the young shoots look tasty, or when there are fresh shoots that are particularly tender. But deer are opportunists and will try anything; so a little damage might be attributed to them during this season, even if not as much as you're seeing. David is right, a picture will help. Try also to get a picture of where you think the deer have snipped a twig.
We do have a problem with a soil disease here. Do a search of "Armillaria root rot". It can sit dormant in a pocket of soil. When the plants roots grow into the pocket of soil, the plant can be infected. What was previously planted where your Maple is now?
Hi, I've attached 2 pictures from one tree - it has been in the same place for more than 10 years - I've been here 6 years and it was well established and flourishing. The irrigation pipes throughout the garden were replaced about 4 years ago. The 3rd picture is of a different tree which is dying on one side. There is a 3rd tree that looks like the first. All vegetation around these trees are doing well. All of my upright (not weeping) acers are doing well. I had transplanted trees #2 and #3 four years ago. Sorry for the delay in posting the pics - my computer crashed a couple times... Thank you, Diane
I forgot to say, nothing was planted where I had transplanted two of the trees, one is close to two pyramidal cedars, a pieris, and a Portugese laurel. The dieback started to accelerate so quickly this year! And, even though 5 deer come to visit, I can't imagine they've done this damage, especially to the tree that's almost dead on the right hand side - that's just odd. Diane
Acer palmatum Dissectum. It's always difficult to assess over the internet. Specific areas of the plant that I would look at for clues, are not always visible. In this case, it appears that your trees are getting too much sun. The roots are too hot. I see sun scorch and dieback that I will attribute to the sun's heat passing through the sidewalk. I recommend a good pruning, done by a horticulturist or arborist who is "experienced" with pruning this type of Maple. Water more often during the drought times. You may want to transplant to an area of the garden that has more dappled shade. I'm in Port Coquitlam, so it wouldn't be feasible to have me come do the work. If you look on line at the BC Landscape and Nursery Association website - BCLNA.com, there is a list of companies in your area that employ Certified Horticulturists. (CLT Designation) I would interview to find one that has experience pruning Acer palmatum Dissectum. They can be tricky. Tree companies or their Certified Arborists may not have the skill or experience to undertake the more delicate pruning that you require.
Has the sun exposition changed? For example, was there a tree felled, or pruned that was providing shade 2 years ago? I do see a little sun scald, but I get that on almost all my Japanese maples. Also these trees are well established and have been doing well until 2 years ago; I'm not sure that moving them would be the right thing to do. What else has changed in their environment? Is it possible a root has gotten cut when someone was digging in the garden? Also, is the right part of the plant in the 3rd picture really dead or just stressed and gone dormant early? Are there any buds, and if you scratch the bark, is it green or brown underneath? Maybe some of this will come back in spring, but if it's really dead cut a piece off and look for dark streaking or spotting in the wood, which might be a sign of verticillium. There are signs of growth in the first pic well out the stems, which counter-indicate vericillium on that plant anyway. (Not suggesting V. wilt is the problem, but it's something to check for.) I don't see that pruning will help beyond cutting back to clean wood, but that's just IMHO. They may be a little thirsty, have the last couple of summers been very hot? Also, where is the mulch you mentioned?
Like Emery is suggesting, I like to look at the past when the present does not give obvious clues in the cause for decline. In our garden, many times the surrounding plantings create a micro climate or desired growing conditions for the surrounding plants. Sometimes larger plants can shelter the other smaller plants from drying summer winds and harsh winter winds. The canopy of surrounding plants can influence sun exposure and moisture retention. So look at the surroundings and see if there were any changes (like pruning as Emery suggested) This could be even minor trimming back, thinning out a canopy, or even removal of a plant or tree that was creating a micro climate for your Japanese maples. Look for big changes or even the less obvious changes of surrounding plants and trees that impact wind and sun exposure. Did a change in your Japanese maple change the sun exposure of the roots? Sometimes when a dissectum is pruned or a large branch fails, the once shaded roots (shaded by its once dense canopy) is now exposed to the sun. This increases the soil temperature and reduces its ability to retain moisture. The tree responds to this change in soil by reducing vigor then the tree continues to decline with die back, which makes the soil conditions even worse and the cycle of decline continues. Seasonal extremes impact the vigor and can lead to decline throughout the growing season. Look back to last season through winter and this season for seasonal extremes. Here many local people lost some very old well established specimens to our seasonal extremes. We had a mild winter that lead to an extremely early warm up causing leaves to emerge one month ahead of scheduled. After everything leafed out we had several hard frost. This killed many old specimens in the area. This was followed by extreme heat and dryness. Many of the Japanese maples at the surrounding nurseries look awful. They were never given enough time to recover from this seasons cycle of extremes. One grower told me he plans on loosing 30% of his Japanese maples. Many of which are 10 to 20 years old (not little 1-3 year grafts, so he is pretty devastated). To add insult to injury, the mild winter has caused an explosion in garden pests. Some are not native to the area, but are extremely destructive. The leaf hopper that came into our area will cause damage to a tree very similar to what you have pictured. So my advice is to be a detective and look back to find a cause before you look at the present. Lastly, look at your irrigation system to make sure its functioning properly. Also a planting between a structure and sidewalk can cause drainage issues. The structure could be sheading water on the green dissectum and the sidewalk may have settled causing the water to run off into the planting bed. Also mentioned, as the roots grow, they may be baked and even steamed from the moist soil coming into contact with the sidewalk or foundation. It may take years for the roots to grow into this area of extreme heat, steam, and dryness caused by heated concrete transferring that heat into the surrounding soil.
Well, I've been looking around at everyone's garden in my neighbourhood and at some of my other plants and I think you've both made valid points! The trees don't look diseased; I think that, since I'm still somewhat new to gardening (I lived in a highrise in Arizona before moving to Victoria), that I have badly misjudged how dry the trees and my garden have become. We haven't had a very hot summer, with quite a few overcast days, so I didn't realize how dry things were. I kind of did the same thing last year, so between the dryness and snow and too much direct sun, that may be the problem. The automatic sprinklers work; however, when I checked the soil yesterday after they cycled, under the trees was only superficially wet, so I'm slow soaking the trees today and on the weekend. I don't know if the deer were eating the branches, I suspect they were as they nibble constantly on my baby dogwoods, but that would only affect the ends and not render branches stone dry. I don't know when I should cut back the dead branches - I'm worried there will be nothing left! And, I'm not sure what to do when the entire branch is bare except for a couple leaves at the end. I misspoke - I added compost around the bottom of the trees this spring. Thank you so much for your help! Diane
I prefer to prune when it's dry and not too hot and the wind is calm. Prune it nicely now, removing the dead bits. The tree will respond well for next season.
Keep those branches and see what they do next year. Many times the branch and buds are healthy, but the leaves failed due to stress. If this is the case, the branch will fill in nicely with new leaves next year. That's what I love about spring, its a new beginning. So what was once bare and tired looking last season, becomes beautiful again.
Thank you... I'm going to trim the obviously deader than dead small twigs and leave the others. I hope you're right - it's been a deceptively dry year, cool, but no rain and I think I've dried them out. Spring is not that far away! I'm always amazed at how things burst forth here. Always a surprise...