New leaves are shriveling up and turning brown on Fall Fiesta sugar maple tree - Ask Extension
My tree is 2 yrs old. Was beautiful last Fall. Mulched last year. Looked fine 2 weeks ago. Leaves developing nicely. In the past 3 days it has ta...
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New leaves are shriveling up and turning brown on Fall Fiesta sugar maple tree #458695
Asked June 01, 2018, 12:42 PM EDT
My tree is 2 yrs old. Was beautiful last Fall. Mulched last year. Looked fine 2 weeks ago. Leaves developing nicely. In the past 3 days it has taken a sickly turn. The leaves turned downward and are changing from green to brown. Yesterday it was very apparent and the tree looked dead. The branches are not brittle but the leaves crunched in my hand almost as if singed by fire. Cleaned off the mulch and have been watering it normally this Spring. The soil does not appear too wet or too dry. Our soil is sandy. I checked the trunk and branches and there are no signs of damage. I dug around the base of the tree and I did not discover any observable insect problem aside of a few grubs. We are out in the country and the tree has lots of room to grow. Please advise me on how to save this young tree.
Anoka County Minnesota
Expert Response
I am wondering why the bottom half of the trunk is dark brown as compared to the lighter color farther up. It looks like that lower portion was wet. It is not a normal look. You can consider herbicide damage to your tree also. If a herbicide was sprayed in the area, it could have been carried to your tree.
The bottom darker portion of the tree had a plastic tree sleeve on last year when we planted it and then all winter. I just removed it to check for any injuries or pests. The only thing that was applied near this tree was a granular Menards brand lawn fertilizer about a month ago. I have a perennial garden and a regular garden and I don’t use pesticide s.pesticides.
Or herbicides unless my neighbor sprayed something and it blew over. I cleaned out the mulch and burnt it. Will apply new mulch soon but I am wondering if I need to cut off all the dead leaves, feed it with something?? Wait to see if it gets any new leaves? We are getting a nice soaking rain right now so I’ll see what happens. Any more advice?
That plastic guard is there to protect the trunk when shipping the tree. It should not be on during spring/summer/fall months. You put it back on in October, making sure it is in the ground a couple inches to prevent voles and mice from digging under and eat the bark of your tree. It should be taken off again in late March/early April depending on weather. Those sleeves to not breath and they can actually cause the trunk to rot from accumulated moisture. The dead leaves will fall off on their own. Keep your new mulch 4+ inches away from the trunk. Then all you can do is wait. It hopefully will leaf out again unless something has happened to the trunk/roots. You need not feed it.
Thank you!
