Sick (dead?) maple

[BobMachus]

First timer poster, long time reader . I have a large maple in my back yard (sorry don't know more). I have owned this house for just over a year (bought 12/20/00). Last spring this large maple (35') budded in the spring (mid May), but we had a hard freeze/blizzard in late May which killed all the new buds. The tree had no real discernible growth for a month or so and then leaves began to appear directly on the main trunk, but none on any branches. This spring there are new shoots of about 8" in many, many places along the main trunk and on some of the main branches out to about 18" from the main trunk. All the branch ends that I can reach are totally dry and brittle. Near ground level there are some splits in the bark and the wood is visible. Is this a tree that if I cut back all the dead stuff to near the trunk will eventually grow new large branches, or is it a goner? I am planing on buy some/several new trees for other places on my property soon and would like to know if I should cut this one down and plant a new one, or hope for the best. Please see my other post regarding new tree choices, etc.

Thanks, Bob

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Can you take a picture and show us?

You can tell if a branch is dead by scratching it with your finger nail. See if there is green under the smooth bark.

 

[treeclimber165]

Sounds like you have a totem pole with dead limbs. IF the trunk is sound, new growth can be selectively pruned and trained into new limbs, BUT they will be weakly attached compared to the origional growth that was lost to the late freeze. Sounds like a candidate for replacement.
If the limbs were frozen back to within 18" of the trunk, there is probably internal damage in the trunk as well. Maybe not visible, but more than likely structurally unsound. Trees cannot 'heal', they can only compartmentalize damaged areas to prevent spread of decay. The eventual side stresses of new growth will lead to structural failure of the weakened areas of the trunk. I'd probably remove it before it put on too much new growth.