I have had this tree for about 10 years, it is around 7 ft. tall. It had been doing wonderful, growing every year. This spring, the whole entire canopy failed to produce any leaves, as seen in the pictures. Could frost have caused this? Is there anything I can do to help it, or is the tree lost? I am in zone 5. Thank you in advance!
Japanese maples are prone to blighting off like this, you can find numbers of questions on web sites similar to yours. If a bed becomes infested with verticillium that may enter Japanese maples present through their roots and clog their vascular tissues, causing portions of the crown to die. Other pathogenic agents are rather frequent on Japanese maples as well, there is even a problem with stock arriving from growers with systemic infestations due to careless propagation practices.
Nothing new has been planted around this tree, and we didn't lay new mulch or anything, including last summer. Is there a way to know that it is Verticillium for sure?
