Hello Maple Specialists, is there any way you can enumerate a step by step procedure on how to save a JM in a pot and in ground from early symptoms of Verticillium wilt? I am just a newbie maple collector and I am trying to summarize all that I have read so far. I know its like cancer of maples but at least can you help us newbies try to save our trees? So far I've read, generally depending on the Verticillium stage, 1. Cut down all the discolored branches and twigs 2. Disenfect tools 3. burn the cuttings/infected leaves 4. Drench soil in Ammonium Sulfate or Copper Sulfate 5. Pull-out plant and wash off all the rootball soil? 6. Re-plant in rich new soil? 7. Solarize infected soil? 8. Plant Verticullium immune trees on old spot.
It seems to me that you already have all the possible steps enumerated there My own view is that you can prolong the life of the tree sometimes, but that it will eventually die anyway :(
I find the cancer analogy very telling. People, with or without cancer, will die anyway but I understand that in the medical community it is said that after 5 years without relapse that particular cancer has been vanquished. Maybe we can apply the same criterion to maples and verticillium, but in this case I propose 3 years: If a maple that has been hit by Verticillium albo-atrum during a season and survives, remains disease free for 3 consecutive seasons then we can assume it has overcome that particular attack. Gomero
You've had it verified that your tree definitely has verticillium wilt, and not another problem? If it was infested after planting, that implies you have some infested ground there - other susceptible trees planted in that spot may suffer similar fates. If it instead came with an infestation already in progress, you will still have the problem of having inserted the pathogen into your planting area when you installed the tree - it may have since spread into surrounding soil.
Our old maple was diagnosed with leaf wilt. We saw remarkable improvement by doing the following: 1. Watering at least every other day in warm weather, at least once a week in severe cold 2. Seasonal fertilization. Nothing fancy, just the stuff you find at garden centers. A little manure in spring, not too close to roots, and a few tree stakes in late fall. I think the heavier watering is what is helping, though. Our tree doctor says dead branch removal is a waste of money. We didn't cut them for several years, and finally did so only for aesthetic reasons. The numbers of new dead branches has diminished considerably. We're not out of the woods, by any means. But so far, this has helped hugely. We know the disease is still there because a few leaves are smaller than in years past, and toward the end of summer, we see a token number of leaves withering up. Overall, though, the tree looks good.
