Hi, My maple is about 5 years old. It has been doing great. But... Went on vacation last week and came home and all the leaves are dead. What happened? It happened early in the week only a day or two since we left. There is some saw dust at the trunk of the tree with two small holes. I did see about 6-7 small cenitipede looking bugs near the saw dust. I assume something has bored into the trunk and killled the tree, or the tree if fighting the bugs? What should I do to save my tree?
Typically a 5 year old plant does not die overnight. And it is even less likely that those inscets bored in and killed it in a short period of time. What you need to do is take a few photos of the branches, leaves and the trunk area that is damaged and post a reply. MJH
Also post your location, I lost a couple of crepe myrtles last year to a boring beetle. I am in the southeast. The county services said they can be a problem with myrtles and did mention japanese maples also. I cut them down quickly not wanting to get them near my maples. The docs i saw said that the boring wasnt the problem, the beetles carry some fungus or maybe virus which actuall kills off the tree. It sounded like once it was there, the tree was a goner. With crepe myrtles you can cut them back hard and they will comeback, but other trees arent that respnsive to that treatment. Mike Acer palamtum 'Crazy'
Follow these experts advice. In the mean time be sure to water it in case it's too dry. In my area where it's hot and dry we had unusual rainfall last spring. Red leafed maples and some dogwoods have looked like they haven't been watered all summer when they never got a start. My mothers Welchii dogwood looked so bad she wanted to remove it and put in a Peach tree. It has new growth and should look better next year. It also bloomed better this year than ever before and for a Welchii looked like a real white dogwood. I'm not the expert but I think blight caused problems and a Peach tree sure wouldn't have been the answer.
