Why all of the dead branches?

[heus]

I have noticed in the past two weeks that just about every sugar maple in my woods has lower branches with dead leaves. They did not turn color, just simply died. Some smaller trees 2-3 inches in diamter seem to have died completely. This is a mixed forest with anywhere from 200 year old trees to saplings. We had a very dry August in NE Ohio. Could it just be stress?

[brookledge]

It could be anthracnose but I thought that was from wet conditions
Do a search on line it might help
Keith

[heus]

When I first noticed this a week ago the leaves seemed to be a blackish color, but now are just brown and dried up. I noticed that this is only in the trees that are not on the edge of the woods. Mu sugar maples on the edge and in the yard are fine. Some of these trees were tapped by my great, great grandfather in the early 1900's.

[forester1]

If the branches are just the lower ones it may be a natural response to increased competition as the trees mature. Think about it; a young forest may have thousands of trees per acre while the mature sugar bush will have less than a hundred. If that is the case, now is the time to get in there and select the winners and release them from competition by cutting out adjacent trees.