Crimson King Maple

[Shilohh]

I am so glad I found this forum. I have been concerned with my two Crimsom King Maple trees. I noticed this summer that one of the trees is looking bare. I noticed the leaves on the ground during the summer. Right now the leaves are falling off of it, but yet they haven't changed color for fall yet. The two trees are right next to each other on the street. I would be bummed if I lost one of them. They are about 15 years old now and were beautiful. They have always been so full. I bought them from a nursery, and the nursery came and planted them. The strange part is my neighbor has a green maple and her tree has gotten bare too. Someone told her that is because the roots are growing up on top of the dirt. This don't sound right to me.
Can someone help? I hope this makes some sense to you all. lol
Shiloh~

 

[Ax-man]

Typical parkway Maple in decline, confined space for roots between sidewalk and street causes this species to have what we call girdling roots just below the grass, this is my guess, your Maple is basically strangling itself causing the crown to die back, it also looks like the companion Maple is shading this tree out causing further decline.

Larry

 

[emr]

there might be more than just a girdling root here. i agree that it most likely has a girdling root, however, i dont remember seeing a maple drop leaves in the middle of summer due to girdling roots. usually the decline is over a number of years. the tree might have had anthracnos, a leaf fungus. best bet is to call a certified arborist to check it out. it may cost a few bucks to evaluate it, but there may be something you can do to help the situation. p.s. a norway maple with roots at or near the surface is generally a good thing.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Don't worry. all the Norway Maples around here look like that this year, many much worse. The frequent light rains and cool temperatures has set up perfect growing conditions for Tar Spot fungus and Anthracnose. Both have hit the Norways hard. Because they are only foliage diseases, the tree should be back to normal next year, provided we don't have similar weather patterns.
If in the unlikely event the defoliating does repeat for several years, the trees can be sprayed in the early spring, then again two weeks later, and possibly a third time, with a fungicide. The spray is similar to the spray protocol for apple Scab, and it's fairly expensive.
My feeling is trees that requires spray programs should be considered for replacement, not that this is the case here. I tell customers to plant a replacement tree, one without disease problems nearby, and then once it's established, remove the diseased tree.
Besides the weather conditions, Norway maples have been heavily over planted, both by people and nature, as they are very invasive. High populations of one type of tree creates a situation where diseases can move around freely and survive well.
Once Norway Maples move into our native forest stands, they take over. They are highly allelopathic and have very dense shade. The only thing that can grow under them is another Norway Maple.

 

[Shilohh]

Thanks everyone who answered my post! I would be sad to lose such beautiful trees. I have one question though. Are the Crimson King Maple trees considered Norway Maples? I have noticed white fuzzy spots on the burgandy leaves. I will take the advice to have a certified arborist to come and check them out.
Thanks once again.
Shiloh!

 

[Woodie]

FWIW, the red maples (Acer rubrum) are struggling like mad here in SE Michigan, too. (You referred to a "green maple," that is most likely either a red maple, a sugar maple, or a silver maple. Not really any such thing as a green maple...and red maples aren't red until the fall, and even then they can be orange and yellow!!) (Get all that?? Good, that makes one of us.)

I have a red maple I thought might have verticilium wilt, called an arborist out, he said 95% of the red maples were struggling in SE Michigan this summer. Turns out mine just had leaf scorch and clorosis...same as all the rest of them...they just did a "vertical mulch" on it. Said it should be just fine. While he was there, he said even the silver maples weren't doing well this year, and those he called 90 ft. dandelions.

Yours is indeed a type of Norway maple, Acer platanoides. What the others said about a girdling root could absolutely be true, I'm not an arborist. But the Norway maple is actually a good choice of tree if you have to plant one where you did. Norways tolerate root compaction, salt, and Ph to a much larger degree than many other trees here in MI. They are particularly well-suited to the heavy clays we tend to have.

A certified arborist is absolutely the way to go...they can not only tell if it's a girdling root or not, but they know the conditions affecting the other Norways in our local area. Keep us posted!

 

[elmnut]

have an arborist check to see if there are problems with the root system, rake up leaves as they fall, this should help prevent fungus from returning next year.(cultural control, hard to justify spending money on a leaf fungus that is purely aesthetic)