maple herbicide injury?

Discussion in 'Maples' started by Dixie, Jul 20, 2007.

  1. Dixie

    Dixie Active Member

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    Location:
    Arkansas, USA
    this sugar maple (with very poor form, had the top broken out during storm) with in the past few days has become very bronzed. the leaves are curling and are crunchy. can not detect any signs of spider mites or other pests. we have had ample rainfall, flooding conditions in parts of the city the past few weeks. as you can see in the picture, everything else is very lush and green. the tree well (mulched area) has obviously been treated with a herbicide recently. i am guessing this is the cause. any thoughts?
     

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  2. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Do you know more of the history of this tree
    in this site? The reason I asked is why do you
    feel the curled leaves are due to a possible
    herbicide (weed and feed, considering the
    color of the lawn)? The speckling (reddish
    orange colored areas) on the leaves does show
    a pattern of destruction similar to having some
    chemical injury but the lower leaves do seem
    to be okay for now. It does seem to me that
    this tree has not been deep watered enough
    which brings to mind the possible weed and
    feed and the amount of water or lack thereof
    this tree has been getting. A series of sun fried
    (beyond a scorch as shown below) leaves all
    turn the same color and also have the curving
    and the distorted leaves. A quick fry due to
    sun and wind damage and not enough water
    and then have a weed and feed application
    or causal damage from drift could have all
    caused these symptoms on this tree.

    Below is a photo of one of our Tsuma gaki
    Maples that all of the top growth just got
    fried to a crisp by the intense sun with not
    enough water pumping through the plants
    system. There was no missed watering
    involved, we just could not give this tree
    ample water fast enough. This photo was
    taken a year ago. As we can see a pretty
    uniform toasting. All the deadened areas
    were trimmed off to help generate new
    lower growth from what was left of the
    tree and now the tree is fine again and
    has already reproduced much of the
    wood that was lost.

    The reason for the example is even with
    a roasted plant there is some margin left
    for recovery. No matter what caused the
    damage to this Maple, deep water this
    tree for a while until you know how much
    wood loss there is and will be and then
    prune off all of the deadened areas and
    hope for a speedy transition. Some
    institutions say to fertilize when this
    happens but I'd be hesitant to do it as
    part of the problem may be due to a
    fertilizer with not enough water given
    to the tree but I also sense a herbicide
    at work here by the discolored areas
    on the surface of the curled leaves.

    Good luck with the tree.

    Jim
     

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  3. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
    ROME Italy zone9/b
    more water 2/3 days for 5/6 minutes and good luck Dixie
    alex
     
  4. Dixie

    Dixie Active Member

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    Location:
    Arkansas, USA
    thank you for all the replies. i guessed herbicide injury since the area underneath had just been sprayed and it was within a few days of the symptoms showing. i know it is not from lack of rainfall since we have had 36 consecutive days of rain. yikes! i was either suspecting too much water or herbicide injury. thanks again!
     

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