Limbs Dying Off

[RC Maple]

I see limbs dying off on a sugar maple in my woods. I noticed last year during the summer that 2 - 3 branches just died during the summer. Nothing to get alarmed about I thought but I noticed this summer that I had another 2-3 branches where the leaves just started wilting. I talked to the forester with the DNR and he said since the woods is in the flood plain all the sugar maples will eventually die anyway - I don't believe that 100%. The trees do stand where water flows when the crick is high, but no water lays where they stand. The tree specialist in a nearby town confirmed what my internet research showed that it looked like verticillium wilt. No cure for that. She did say though that I could send a sample to the plant and pest diagnostic lab to have it tested. I did that Tuesday and am waiting to hear the results. The lady at the lab thought that verticillium wouldn't just do 2-3 branches per year though so she doubted the prognosis. This is a 7" dbh tree an I hate to lose it. I had similar symptoms two years ago on a smaller tree and it did kind of all go at once. It's still got two or three limbs hanging on though and I want to see what happens.


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The last picture is the tree that got hit a couple of years ago and the first pictures of the symptoms I am seeing now.

[RC Maple]

Since I started this thread I thought I would say how the test came out for Verticillium. Like I said, I sent the sample of one of the dying branches to the lab to be tested for the disease to see if that was what was causing individual branches to die. The lab report said there is no sign of the fungus which causes verticillium wilt or the olive-green streaking which usually accompanies it. It would have been good to know exactly what the issue was but it was also good to know that it wasn't that. I will just have to see what happens with the tree next year as the leaves are beginning to change now.

[optionguru]

I have one of my old massive Maples that has started the same issue. Couple of branches a year, Mine are pretty large branches. This Spring about 1/2 of the tree had goof foliage the other half had leaves that look like they only grew for about 1 month and then stopped (small and discolored). It's so sad because this is one of the main trees that line my driveway and Ill never be able to replace it in the next couple of generations.

[mapleack]

Since I started this thread I thought I would say how the test came out for Verticillium. Like I said, I sent the sample of one of the dying branches to the lab to be tested for the disease to see if that was what was causing individual branches to die. The lab report said there is no sign of the fungus which causes verticillium wilt or the olive-green streaking which usually accompanies it. It would have been good to know exactly what the issue was but it was also good to know that it wasn't that. I will just have to see what happens with the tree next year as the leaves are beginning to change now.
RC, did you ever find out the cause? I just found half a dozen of my sugar maples yesterday that match your pictures exactly. My google searches led me to wilt as well.
Thanks
Andy

[RC Maple]

The results I received back from the lab said what that tree had was not verticillium. The lab did not say it had anything. I still think that is what it was though. While I have had a tree that had similar symptoms on a branch or two continue on and look ok, this tree was completely dead in 3-4 years. I've had trees die all at once and seen them die in two years. They usually look good all summer and then the leaves turn pale and then wilt.

[maple flats]

I wonder if it is just natural pruning, just a guess? Trees will prune them selves if a branch is adding less energy than it uses, that is commonly seen when lower branches die and drop while higher ones flourish, but it can also happen to less productive upper limbs. Again, just throwing it out there.

[DrTimPerkins]

Decent general description and photos of some common maple problems here. https://dengarden.com/landscaping/Maple-Tree-Problems Lots of ads on that page though. We get a lot of emails/calls about dead, dying, or stressed trees. These are sometimes difficult to diagnose from afar -- sometimes difficult to diagnose even when we're looking directly at them.

There is always some level of natural mortality in trees. For mature healthy forests it may be around 0.5-1%. In stressed areas (wet, droughty, pest outbreaks) it can be considerably higher. Same kind of thing with branches....some percentage get broken or some other problem every so often.

[mapleack]

Thanks all for the replies, i should've clarified that I in addition to dead leaf clusters i've got several dead maples in that area that appeared fine a couple years ago. Mature and not crowded, full crowned trees. More concerning to me because of that. I'm going to reach out to the local Penn State office to see if they can offer some forestry help.