Hi there,
I have a beautiful 16 year old red maple tree that is dying a very slow death. It grew very fast in the beginning. It has stopped growing the last 5 years or so. It is in front of my house and faces west. The last few years, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t get as full with leaves and its leaves turn red very early now. They turn red July/August and the tree is naked by September. I had a soil test a couple of years ago and can send you the details if you would like. I had Davey Tree come out last (early) spring and look at the tree. They came with an air spade to check for girdling. They couldn’t find evidence of that and said my soil looked good. They determined that the irises growing around it might have come up too high around the base of the tree, causing the tree to lack oxygen and water. So they cleared the area around the base of the tree so the tree could ‘breathe’. They also put a little bit of fertilizer down. The tree had a lot of buds at that time. Within a month of that (April/May 2023), the buds fell off, along with hundreds of twigs. The tree looked worse than the year before and had fewer leaves. The leaves started to turn red in July. Davey Tree assured me that the tree may take a while to come back and it may come back this year. This year the tree has even fewer buds. I fear I am going to have even fewer leaves than last year. What could be wrong with this tree. I really want to save it if I can, or if it’s never going to recover, I want to chop it down and replace it with a new tree. I will share the soil test results with you as I can’t really interpret it myself. Let me know where to email it. I will also share some pictures with you over the last couple of years – they have the date on them in the file name.
Is there anything else I can try to keep this tree alive? Feel free to email or call me with any questions.
Your help is very much appreciated.
Thank you for contacting Toronto Master Gardeners.
Red maple or Acer rubrum is a lovely tree that is native to Ontario. It prefers full sun, grows in a variety of soils, but prefers wet soils. It can grow to 25 metres with a diameter of up to 1 metre. It has a shallow, spreading root system.
It is difficult to determine exactly what is ailing your tree, but the leaves changing colour early is typically an indication of stress. This stress can be the result of physical injury to the tree, insect infestations, disease or weather conditions.
Davey Tree seems to have ruled out root problems with their test and I am sure they checked for injury to the tree. It does seem from the photograph that your tree is planted in a relatively small space and it appears that the sidewalk and house are quite close to where the tree is planted. These manmade structures may inhibit root spread over time. Since the tree was planted 16 years ago and thrived for most of them, it doesn’t appear that the soil type would be problematic. You do not mention any signs of insects or disease, but these are not easy to detect at this time of year unless you seem damage on the bark. You may want to check for spots or holes on the leaves when they appear. Late winter frost as we experienced in Toronto this year can contribute to fewer buds on trees.
One of the most common causes of early fall colour is drought. This can also cause small leaves and lower than average growth. Toronto had historically low rainfall in 2022. While a tree can recover from drought conditions, it may take a couple of years. If your site is dry, it is important to water the tree deeply, once or twice a week to a depth of 2.5 cm. Ensure that there is a good layer of composted material as mulch near, but not touching the base of the tree.
Since you really want to save the tree, you might want to wait another season to see if a good regime of deep watering and mulching helps.
April 23, 2024