Sugar Maple Leaves Turning Brown and Dropping

Discussion in 'Maples' started by HorseFly, Jul 22, 2010.

  1. HorseFly

    HorseFly Member

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    Location:
    Fisherville,KY USA
    I have 3 new Sugar Maple trees in my front yard. Two of them have browning leaves and they are falling from the tree. The third one appears to be fine.

    I had an arborist (certified) come in to fix the grade (installer planted them really deep), aerate around the trees, and cut girdling roots. They also mixed in some compost. I also sprayed them with some worm compost tea (could this have burned the leaves?).

    Now I don't know what to do because they have a 1-year warranty but they were dormant when planted in March so I really just have until the fall to decide if I should ask for replacements. Then I wonder if they will blame the arborist and try to back out of their warranty.

    Does anyone know what is wrong with these trees and if they will/will not survive?

    Photos on Flickr
     
  2. emery

    emery Renowned Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
    Normandie, France
    Hi,

    Nice trees, I hope they make it.

    Honestly it's hard to say a great deal looking at the photos. The trees look stressed and perhaps need water, but any large maple during its first year is going to be suffering a bit in the Kentucky summer sun. Additionally mucking around a lot with the roots isn't going to make things easier in my view (although some like to cut back to encourage root growth when planting, this is usually accompanied by branch pruning). Spraying the leaves with fertilizer was a bad idea but probably not the cause, just that encouraging top growth isn't what's called for now, the roots need to get established.

    How are you watering them? Does the less burnt one get less sun?

    You should know whether they're going to make it when the buds set in fall, even if they lose leaves early this year. The idea is to nurse them through the first year, (or 2 years), afterward they'll be less worry.

    In short, probably just normal planting stress exacerbated by insufficient root mass to support the canopy.

    Good luck,

    -E
     

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