I have a silver maple at least 25 years old. It has been quite healthy, happy and growing in the 10 years I have lived here. This spring it produced a large number of seeds in big bunches. They all dropped within a few days last week. Very few leaves out and the ones that are are unusually small. Is my tree dying? Web search results indicate that probably is the case. Am attaching pictures.
Possibly it has been rotting behind those two big branch stubs. Best to have a certified arborist or other party thought capable of a reliable informed opinion to inspect the tree in person.
I wish I could offer some comfort, but my experience has been that, if a question contains the words "large silver maple" and "dying," the answer is always Yes. These are just not very long-lived trees, and they seem to succumb just about the time you are coming to regard them as grand old specimens.
