What killed my maples and what should I replant?

Question

For the last few years my two red maples have had limbs die from the top/outer part down. This year they are completely dead. I suspect borers, but my neighbor's trees are healthy! I cut down one of the maples yesterday and the center part was very soft and even looked like coarse sawdust in some places. There were borer holes. Did the borers just pick my yard and not my neighbors? Could it have been something else? Oh, BTW, I have a very healthy redbud growing between the two.

I live in zone 7 (Nashville) What are some good replacement trees that grow fast and give good shade? What can I do to prevent tree death?

Answer 1

When an entire branch of a maple tree dies, I always suspect verticillium wilt. Borers are usually a secondary infection of dead or dying wood. Verticillium wilt, is a common and serious disease of maples. The destructive soil-borne fungus, Verticillium, kills many maples each year throughout North America.

Norway maples seem especially sensitive to infection by Verticillium. Silver, red, sugar, sycamore and Japanese maples are also susceptible. The fungus usually enters a tree by way of its roots and spreads from there through the sapwood into the upper branches. When this happens, one or more large limbs or even the entire crown may begin to die back. Infected limbs will sometimes produce sparse, sickly looking leaves which may later wilt suddenly and die usually in July. Sometimes leaves will have marginal browning or scorch symptoms.

A diseased tree can die within one season, but usually lingers, dying slowly over several years. Survival time depends on the size and vigor of the tree, as well as general weather conditions. Healthy vigorous trees can limit the damage by producing new water conducting vessels free of the fungus.

Olive-green streaks sometimes can be seen in the sapwood of wilt-infected maples. Usually they will be some distance below the place where the leaves are wilted or scorched. If you cut into the bark at intervals back to where the wilted branch joins the main stem and you do not see any stain, Verticillium is most likely not the cause. If streaking is found, branch samples 4-8 inches long with stain can be collected and submitted to the county extension office for laboratory confirmation.

Once the disease becomes established, it's hard to control. For this reason, it's best to cut down and destroy seriously infected trees. In some cases, though, it may be worth trying to save one, if by pruning out the infected branches, the value of the tree as a landscape plant is not destroyed.

Be sure to keep the tree well watered during dry periods. This is very critical and may be more important than fertilizing in helping the tree to recover.

As with so many plant diseases, it's better to prevent maple wilt than to try to cure it. So keep your maples in healthy, vigorous condition with good annual care. This involves proper feeding, watering, pruning, repair of injuries and other maintenance.

Cared for properly, a tree is less likely to become diseased and should thrive for many years.

If it is verticillium wilt, then do not plant another maple in that spot. Select a tree that suits your growing climate, site requirements and is not susceptable to verticillium wilt. Consider a Honeylocust, London Planetree or one of the new Elm trees. Other trees susceptable to verticillium wilt are the Tuliptree or Linden, as an example.

Answer 2

I found Spring to be the best time to transplant maples as the survival rate is higher then. Go ahead and dig it up as soon as the ground's thawed enough for you to do so. And if you don't happen to get as much of the root don't worry about it because you're never gonna get it all anyway just get whatever can you and it'll be fine. Also, be sure to have a pair of sizable pruners handy because you'll need them to cut those roots short to pull it out. Now, if the tree's six foot then I'd imagine the diameter of the trunk to be probably 3" at the base so that's not gonna be an easy job by hand, probably take you an hour. But then a six foot hardwood is more then a year and a half old, I'd say a six foot hardwod is atleast 3 years old. Heck, you might even have to put a chain saw on those lateral roots! Just get it out anyway you can the chances are best that it'll survive if you do it by or before April. Actually if you're doing it by hand I don't think you're even gonna be able to get more then 20 - 30% of the root system anyway on that of a six foot hardwood. Now, in case anybody's following along, if you're transplanting a conifer, that you'll need to do in the Fall to maximize the chances of survival. Cheers

Answer 3

Acer saccharinum-- Silver Maple