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red maples (Acer rubrum) are all seeds, no leaves

16 years ago

There's an A. rubrum in my yard that is producing SO MANY samaras that it has no new leaves on it - it looks like almost fall-color-ish it has so many. Only some of the branch tips have any sign of green growth and it's minimal and seems to have not grown much the last couple weeks, and other branches appear to have no leaf growth, only a hundred thousand winged samara seeds.

Is this normal? Did the tree produce so many fruits that it sapped all it's energy? Will my tree actually leaf out to a normal canopy, or will it have a thin crown of leaves all summer?

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
when a tree is going way too far in its reproductive cycle.. the first thing i think of is this:

its life is threatened.. and it MUST reproduce before it dies ....

not really thinking it is going to die..

but is there any chance you have been in severe weather patterns recently ...

extended drought???

heavy equipment installing a new driveway or patio ...

what is different.. in the last 2 years.. that would cause this tree to produce so many seeds.. that you would actually notice????

ken
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
16 years ago
Most acer species have an ability to flower very heavily and this can be somewhat cyclic in nature - some years much more so than others. And the heaviness of the flowering will generally translate pretty directly to seed production as well. While Ken makes some very valid points, I'm not sure I'd be overly concerned. Yet :-)
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I will check... It's too early and cant remember last year's color change! The sugar maples are abundant here so you have to look carefully into the canopy to make sure you're not mistaking them. I will say that a red maple (no idea of the cultivar) is planted on a home down the street from me and it doesn't look that hearty/heathy... not a thick canopy of leaves and the color is not great (in the 3 years I've been here) - it's pale reddish/yellow color... nothing I'd want to plant. Anyhow, all this fuss over the a. Rubrum and i might end up planting something else altogether! Now I am thinking black gum, particularly Nyssa Tupelo Tower as it seems to be cold hardy and the narrower growth habit might actually be less overwhelming down the road... plus, the colors are supposedly very reliably beautiful every year... The spot is periodically wet (close to water table) and even in dry summers it's a moist spot. My understanding is that the Nyssa like moist (even wet) sites
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bengz6westmd
16 years ago
No need to be concerned, but heavy seed production will detract from leaf/stem production. Eventually relatively full leafing will occur. Silver maples will do this on occasion too. Sometimes it's a sign of stress on the tree, but occasionally will happen even if the tree is healthy.
Embothrium
16 years ago
Many red maples dripping with fruits in Seattle this year.
wisconsitom
16 years ago
Posters above have pretty well covered it. The trees will put more energy into vegetative growth, after the seeds have fully formed. I've got a monstrously huge silver in my back yard. Last year, partly as a cyclical thing, and partly, I believe, due to drought the previous year (when buds are formed), that thing had the look you describe-all seeds and just tiny little tufts of leaves at branch tips. We really did use snow shovels to pick up seeds off our driveway!

+oM

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