Sugar Maple leaves falling a bit early in October?

[WackyTomato]

Hi all,

I have a tall mature sugar maple on my front yard. I found that its leaves turned orange/red earlier than the other trees in my neighbourhood (though other trees are not necessarily sugar maple, but some are definitely some kind of maple).

Factors to take into consideration:

- I had it pruned about 10% in late September (not sure if the stress can have an impact);
- The tree is at least 50 years old.
- I live in Ottawa, Ontario. As of this date, there is a handful of leaves left in the tree.

The tree had a great canopy and its limbs looked healthy in the summer. The other kinds of maple on my street have started to change colors a couple of weeks ago but they still have a significant amount of leaves on...

Should I be worried?

Thank you!

 

[Oldmaple]

Maples are nice in that they speak to you when they are stressed. Early fall colors are an indication of stress on Maples but in my area this would be turning colors in August or September. October I would consider normal. What is causing the stress is the question. You need to be careful and compare like species (Sugar Maple to Sugar Maple). The pruning should not be a problem. Proper fertilization is helpful to to maintain the vigor of a tree especially one in a lawn area.