Sugar Maple with dead crown on north side

[Jake_MN]

My neighbor has a sugar maple I'd estimate to be 25 feet tall. I have a red oak that was planted approximately 15 feet to the north of his sugar maple. The red oak is approx. 20 feet tall. The crowns of both trees were always slightly thinner on the sides facing one another, but until this year both seemed healthy.

Last year I noticed a dead branch or two on the sugar maple on the side facing the red oak. I chalked it up to the branch being on the north side of the maple. This year, the entire north half of the crown, which faces the oak, has no leaves.

My question is, should I suspect some sort of disease? Competition? Should I be worried if it is a disease as I have two sugar maples on my lot that are spectacular trees? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[S Mc]

Jake, could you get some pictures?

15 ft apart is awfully close, so there certainly may be competition issues.

Was anything done to the ground between the trees? New fence, lines dug, etc.

Can you identify any other differences between his yard and yours in care or maintenance? Were these container trees when planted?

Any information you can think of might help with some suggestions.

Sylvia

 

[Jake_MN]

Sylvia,
yes, it's very close. Unfortunately they were already planted that way when I bought the house. Fortunately the remaining trees in my lot have plenty of room to grow.

Not sure if they were container trees. I do take much better care of my yard than he does. And I do feed my trees annually. No recent ground disturbances that I am aware of. I can get pics tomorrow. My oak is thriving, so I'm not sure what's going on with the maple.

Thanks,
Jake

 

[treeseer]

competition.

Buy just one hour of an arborist's time and you can learn how to keep their crowns clean and their roots strong.. Buy a good polepruner and u can diy from there on, until they get really big.

Trees can be shaped to mature very nicely together; competition becomes collaboration and coevolution.

 

[Jake_MN]

Sorry it took a couple days for the pics. We've had rain/drizzle and I couldn't get a good shot. Here's a couple

 

[S Mc]

Well, Jake. To tell you the truth, that does NOT appear to be competition. This is exactly why I asked for pictures. The maple is growing straight and true and, whereas the side towards your tree may be a bit lighter branched, it is not significantly so.

You said the crown has not leafed out, can you tell if these branches are dead?

I don't see insect holes in the trunk, the base of the tree does not look girdled. (Which does not preclude the existance of a subterranean girdling root.) What we do see is leaves that have come out and shriveled at the top. Verticillium wilt can cause dieback such as we are seeing and can be lethal.

There was a maple decline in a limited area in Wisconsin and Michigan in 1957. Certain insects combined with disease and climatic factors were thought to be the cause. The decline evidently abated but reemerged to a lesser extent in the 1970s.

Where am I going with that thought? Sometimes we can't pinpoint the definitive cause. I would hope your neighbor will consider having a professional out who may be able to assist in narrowing down the cause of the demise of this tree.

Sylvia

 

[Jake_MN]

Thanks Sylvia,

As I noted earlier, the two trees had signs of competition in that the branches on the sides facing one another were slightly less dense, but as you can see this is something new. The trunk is intact, no insect sign that I can see. Verticilium wilt was the first thing I thought of, but I'm no expert so I thought I should ask.

My neighbor and I are on good terms, so I'll suggest having the tree looked at. I very much appreciate your feedback. I'll report back if anything notable happens.

 

[ct greenman]

As Sylvia wrote possible girdling root. I see a lot of quick die back like this when the tree is planted too deep and/or with the burlap and wire cage or other packaging still around the root ball. As the tree and root system grow the packaging causes the roots to girdle and kill the tree.
I notice a nice small mulch ring around your tree this is good to prevent mower and trimmer damage remember to not pile up mulch around the trunk as this is bad for the trees health. Your neighbor has grass right up to the trunk with some repeated mower and trimmer damage the cambium of the maple could have been severely damaged.

 

[Ed Roland]

When was the sod installed?

 

[Jake_MN]

The lawn is established. It has been for the five years I've owned my house. My neighbor thinks the cause is storm damage. In the spring there was excessive sap leakage from the junction of the first set of major branches. Regardless, I think this tree is headed for removal. Thanks again for the responses.

 

[ChrisWNY]

That's too bad, that Sugar Maple looked like it had grown very well up until that point. It had a nicely shaped crown and good branch structure. I am doubtful of a girdling root simply because they tend to be a problem early in a tree's life, slowing down and stunting growth well before a tree reaches maturity. No way to really prove that though unless the area around the tree is carefully excavated to check for root girdling. I would also suspect disease or an insect infestation played a role.

We had a "Sugar Maple decline" issue out here in WNY a few years ago, I'm not sure what exactly caused the decline, but know that thousands of Sugar Maples around the area died and had to be removed as a result. Recently, my county has begun attempts to propagate Sugar Maples to compensate for the losses we had a few years ago, so I can only assume that whatever caused their decline has either been eradicated or subsided on its own.

 

[Ed Roland]

New fence, [?] Sylvia

When was that fence installed?

Besides, this decline is serendipity in that it corrects a structural defect. One side of the co-dom split is dead. All the way back to the point of eventual removal. Decay potential? u bet.
Perhaps with the dead properly removed and with optimum cultural practices (including removing any sgr) going forward this young tree could outgrow this issue.

 

[limbwalker54]

I would side closer with Sylvia. I do not agree with your neighbor's diagnosis at all.....mechanical storm damage would be visible either with cracks or broken branches. However, Verticillium wilt can cause acute dieback. If you cut off a limb in the dead section you might see some xylem tissue that is discolored/darkened. This is one sign of the disease. Lab tests would be the true way confirm the presence of the disease. It would be prudent to find out whether or not it was indeed Verticillium because it can stay present in the soil for years beyond the trees existence, and other species are affected by it.