Ailing Maple

[foxhill]

One of my maple trees planted about 18 years ago that has been doing fine, started, a couple of years ago, to thin on top with few leaves on many of the branches. In the picture showing three trees, the one on the left is very healthy, but was planted in a fertilized flower bed. The one on the right is starting to show the same symptoms on the portion of its top nearest the badly affected tree in the middle. The middle tree is paler in color than the other trees. Could it be a lack of fertilizer? Since it is affecting two trees, does that make root girdle less likely?

View attachment 189506View attachment 189507

 

[jamied]

Fertilizer or lack of is rarely going to be a problem.

What kind of soil do you have?

Can you take pictues at the base of the trees showing all sides at ground level?

What is under the trees that don't have flower beds? Mulch? Grass?

What kind of maple? If unkown include leaf photos.

 

[foxhill]

?

Jamied:

Thanks for the quick response. The soil is heavy clay with a few inches of topsoil over it. You can see in the pictures there is lawn under the tree with a four foot diameter bare circle around the base. This area used to be mulched, but I've neglected it for a few years. Could that be the problem? Don't know the type of maple - picture of leaf included.

 

[jamied]

Jamied:

Thanks for the quick response. The soil is heavy clay with a few inches of topsoil over it. You can see in the pictures there is lawn under the tree with a four foot diameter bare circle around the base. This area used to be mulched, but I've neglected it for a few years. Could that be the problem? Don't know the type of maple - picture of leaf included.

It looks like a Norway maple.

It may have a girdled root. It appears to be burried to deep also. You should use your hose to expose more of the flare, so you can see the large main roots. Don't worry about taking out too much soil, you can't hurt it with the hose. Please show photos again after removal of the extra soil.

Have any chemicals been used on the lawn?

 

[chad556]

Looks like you have a Norway Maple (Acer platanoides). In the above picture I can see some evidence of possible girdling roots just to the right of the base of the trunk.

One of the members here has posted an excellent video showing how he remedied a serious girdling roots problem on this exact species of tree here is the thread: http://www.arboristsite.com/tree-care-videos/140559.htm

I am not positive that this is your problem but since Norway Maples are notorious for girdling themselves to death I think that would be an excellent place to start. Check out that root flare! Good luck.

 

[foxhill]

Jamied and Chad556:

Thanks for your help. I will post pictures after I have uncovered more of the base. Jamied, in answer to your question, no chemicals, other than 10-10-10 fertilizer, have been used on the lawn.

 

[ch woodchuck]

Noticed the soaker hose...There is a possibility of a perched water table.Clay soils don't drain well.Water puddling around the root zone will cause anerobic conditions.Roots need to transpire carbon dioxide,which filters through the the soil to the surface,otherwise it becomes toxic and will cause problems.If not girdling roots,and i Agree with the root consensus,then a few bore holes around the canopy might find soggy soil,Or both root/drainage problems.

 

[foxhill]

The pictures show opposite sides of the tree. Not good. You guys were obviously right. Can it be saved?

 

[jamied]

The pictures show opposite sides of the tree. Not good. You guys were obviously right. Can it be saved?

Thanks for the close up photos. I'm sorry to say that I doubt it can be saved, the gridling looks pretty bad. You could try to remove the girdling roots, but I don't know there would be enough root left to support the tree physically or to get water and nutrients to pass.

Sorry I don't have better news for you.


Jamie
Neenah, WI

 

[chad556]

I have to agree with jamied on this one. That is a pretty serious girdling root problem. Although the problem is severe I think you still have a reasonable hope to possibly save the tree if you can successfully remove the girdling roots. I would start by completely removing the one in this picture:

Cut it carefully where you can and carefully peel/pry it up and off the root flare (be careful, it is very easy to do more harm than good if you rush this process, think of it as delicate surgery). Then remove any other roots that appear to be choking out the root flare like this one is this may require a little more root excavation to be sure you don't miss any. Once the offending roots are gone refill the root zone, ideally with native topsoil and put down some mulch. Don't overwater but be sure to keep the soil moist to avoid any excess stress. I would not recommend adding fertilizer because this can often worsen problems in declining trees, let the tree use its own stored energy to heal itself. You may see results this season or it may take until next year for the tree to leaf out fully and be healthy again. Not to dash your hopes but also do not be surprised if the tree continues to decline or even gets better and then declines agian, sometimes you get lucky sometimes you don't...

It looks like it is a pretty young tree in your first pictures and this fact is encouraging. I think that the key is removing the cause of the problem as soon as you can. Best of luck, and don't be afraid to post more pictures or ask more questions if you are unsure.

 

[jamied]

I have to agree with jamied on this one. That is a pretty serious girdling root problem. Although the problem is severe I think you still have a reasonable hope to possibly save the tree if you can successfully remove the girdling roots. I would start by completely removing the one in this picture:

Cut it carefully where you can and carefully peel/pry it up and off the root flare (be careful, it is very easy to do more harm than good if you rush this process, think of it as delicate surgery). Then remove any other roots that appear to be choking out the root flare like this one is this may require a little more root excavation to be sure you don't miss any. Once the offending roots are gone refill the root zone, ideally with native topsoil and put down some mulch. ....

Nice suggestions. I will be interested to hear how this turns out if the poster decides to try and save the tree.

Jamie

 

[foxhill]

Jamie and Chad:

Thanks for all the help. I have done the surgery and will keep you posted.

 

[ChrisWNY]

I've seen Norway's in worse condition than this that were "save-able". Glad you did the surgery, can you post photos of the results? Other than that large root that chad556 pointed out, the rest appeared to be spoked out fairly well. I had to do some root surgery on a much younger Red Maple last year, the root zone looked like a snake's nest, roots going all over the place. I had to remove a fair percentage of the criss-crossing roots (girdling) during the late Summer (September), didn't seem to affect the tree at all, grew very well this Spring.

 

[foxhill]

Thanks for your comments ChrisWNY. Here is a picture of the tree a month after the surgery. I forgot to take pictures before I backfilled. In case you can't tell, any yellow on the tree is seed pods. The leaves haven't wilted but are maybe a bit droopy on the right side and it has not lost any leaves. If you zoom in and scroll to the right you may be able to see what I mean. Some of the leaves there are slightly rounded over. Think it will live or is it still too early to tell?

Thanks to everyone for your help. This is a great site.

Bob

 

[jamied]

Thanks for your comments ChrisWNY. Here is a picture of the tree a month after the surgery. I forgot to take pictures before I backfilled. In case you can't tell, any yellow on the tree is seed pods. The leaves haven't wilted but are maybe a bit droopy on the right side and it has not lost any leaves. If you zoom in and scroll to the right you may be able to see what I mean. Some of the leaves there are slightly rounded over. Think it will live or is it still too early to tell?

Thanks to everyone for your help. This is a great site.

Bob

HI;

It's too early. A tree with girdling roots like this, even without intervention might live at least a few more years. You would most likely end up cutting it down because it was ugly before it completely died.

With your surgery, you won't really know how the tree is doing until at least next year or longer. The first indication that it is doing better may be if it fills in more next year / and puts on some more new growth.

Your trees would be really happy with a large area (the larger the better, there is no grass in forests) under them mulched instead of that grass. Some nice organic mulch with leaves and such ground in it would be great, often free from the city or very cheap from tree services.

Removing grass and mulching will likely cause the most substantial visible improvement in the trees health. Removing the root hopefully fixed a problem that would have killed the tree. However, that isn't a substitute for good cultural practices including mulch. It won't make the difference if the tree lives or dies in the near future, but if you choose to much a large 15-20 foot or more circle around the tree, you will be amazed at how much that helps. Still, it will very likely be next year before you notice much.

Jamie