Save my Japanese Maples

[Mirage7i8]

Ok, they're not mine, but they're right outside my building and I love them! Here is a link to some pictures and the sadness they're experiencing:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1101186954 ... uWNr_Sh3wE

Some of the maples right next to them have fine and green leaves and seeds in this end of summer season (as the pics show), while this one has brown leaves and is sad! The trunk is also experiencing flaking of some sort. Is it too late? What can I do?

Thanks!
Lee

[tomc]

The one japan maple I could see a close up of the trunk has some significant bark damage. I'm not sure anything can be done for it.

[bullthistle]

You are outside of their hardiness zone so the best option if you have a fireplace is to have them cut down and burn on a cold winter's day.

[rainbowgardener]

But Bt... I don't know if they can be saved, a couple of the pictures look pretty sad. But they are large old trees, so they have survived the cold for a bunch of winters already. That makes me wonder if whatever variety this is hasn't manage to adapt to NY. Anyway at least to wonder if the problem isn't something besides too cold for them.

But (thinking out loud here), if it is like on the margin of what climate they can tolerate, that might make them kind of chronically stressed and vulnerable to whatever is causing these problems.

At just a total guess, the one with all the bark damage right down at the base of the tree looks like someone might have backed a car into it or hit it with a lawn mower or something.

[DoubleDogFarm]

The next category of Japanese maple disease is a disease that can be more problematic for your Japanese maple if untreated. Examples of these diseases include anthracnose and tree cankers. Anthracnose is another fungal disease that causes discolored, curling leaves and leaf loss. It commonly occurs after unusually cold, and unusually wet winters. One occurrence is generally harmless, but repeated outbreaks will weaken the tree’s resistance to more harmful diseases. Treat anthracnose by removing affected branches and leaves and burning them. Left untreated, anthracnose can lead to tree cankers. A canker is a dead area on the branch or trunk of the affected tree. The fungi enter the tree through a wounded area and start spreading. A canker can encircle a branch or trunk and kill it. If the canker is on the main trunk, it will kill the tree. Remove tree limbs with cankers before it affects the rest of the tree. There is no effective way to treat a canker which encircles the main trunk.

Anthracnos is a common maple disease in the San Juan Islands.

Eric

[tomc]

You are outside of their hardiness zone so the best option if you have a fireplace is to have them cut down and burn on a cold winter's day.

For laceleaf Japan maple NYC *might* be too cold. For the sturdier regular leaf Japan Maple, mine lived long in NH. From seed collected from the biggest Bloodgood tree I've ever seen in Laconia, or anywhere else...