Sick Crimson King Maple....

happy1957

have a Crimson King Maple in my front yard. It's been growing beautifully since I planted it 9 years ago. I planted it in celebration of purchasing my first home, by myself. This tree is not only beautiful, but has great sentimental value.

I have loved and always wanted a Crimson King Maple since I've been an adult. They are not native to Maine, yet we see them everywhere.

It has been a long winter. Finally May shows up with all it's glory. The flowers are blooming and everything is green.

Then it began to rain about 10-12 days ago. So most of the flowers were not enjoyed as they usually are because they passed early or who wants to stand in their garden in the pouring rain?

(just trying to paint a picture here)

Over the last week or so I had mentioned to my husband and friend how weird the tree is growing, that the leaves on the top of the tree are smaller than at the ends of the branches, but overall it looked ok, just behind others in the neighborhood. Other than the lack of sun, I hadn't given this any thought. I really thought the tree was continuing to blossom.

Yesterday the sun finally appeared. It was a perfect day, about 76, warm and we were just so darn happy to see the sun.

When I came home from work around 6, I always admire my flowers and trees from the car, I just love spring!

OMG, my Maple tree has something wrong. The sun had dried up all the little tender leaves with the exception of the few larger ones on the end of one branch. I parked the car and ran to the tree. It is sick, nothing visible, definitely not a lack of water. It's just wilting like a tulip passing. I tried googling Crimson King Diseases and really didn't find anything.

Can anyone help me, tell me how to nurture this tree back to good health? I love, love, love this tree.

Photos can be seen at Message

Attached Thumbnails

     

Alex Metzler

who exposed the root crown?!
big no no
it is likely the tree suffered some impact due to the disturbance of its delicate roots and rhizosphere .
inoculate the soil with mycorrhizae
feed liquide sea kelp.
good luck!

Alex Metzler

also might help to re-insulate the roots with mulch, perhaps take a soil sample to your local nursery to have analyzed, even beter the one the tree came from.
have my doubts its a deficiency though.
hope this helps

happy1957

We exposed the roots for no more than two hours to see if we had root girdling which was suggeted to determine if the tree was a waste of time trying to make it recover. We have recovered them and added fresh compost
This was done after the defoliation.
We will try the mycorrhizae... Thank you for your advice

happy1957

I apologize for not posting my photos properly. I didn't know how to make them smaller. Thank you for fixing the error. I never intended to break any rules. Thank you for understanding.

Brent Ferris

Your tree may be suffering from low oxygen levels from too much rain -- this species does better on well drained soils with less rain, Wait and see. Root strangulation doesn't usually affect the crown so quickly. And from what I can see of shoot tip growth over the last several years, root strangulation does not appear to be an issue at this time,.

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Alex Metzler

my bad, all apologies from my side, should've known that this was done in an effort to diagnos the problem, hmmmmmm the leaves look healthy but burnt or maybe scalded, have there been any extreme temperature fluctuations? maybe intense heat followed by cold temp drop? or intense sun?

Alex Metzler

btw you break the rules and you PAY!!!!

happy1957

I wanted to write and let everyone know that the State Forestry Dept has confirmed that my tree was hit with Kabatiella apocrypta. With proper care and spring funicides, this tree should do fine. Thank you for your support.