The white substance on your Maple leaves looks like Powdery mildew this will cause your leaves to brown,shrivel and fall off the tree......the growth on the bark is a lichen...the lichen will not hurt your tree... The photo of the other leaves, looks like they are chlorotic.... the soil is lacking iron or magnesium which makes the leaves look greener along the veins and less green on the other part of the leaf... Ian Ian

well.. i hope you dont have soil in the pot.. how big is it.. how big is the pot.. and what is the potting media???? and what protection.. in z9.. have you used.. to keep teh pot from getting over 100 degrees in july/aug.. besides cloudy days of rain ???? for trees... the media should be near straight bark chunks... any amount of peat.. would mean.. with all the rain.. you are probably rotting off the roots ..;. tip it out of the pot.. and see what the root ends look like... if they are not white.. there is you answer ... more facts ken

So as far as the comments about maples being unable to grow/thrive in this environment, well, I'm not sure true; there are many around...appreciate all of the comments but sort of getting conflicting advice. Do I spray or not? [Systemic] or spray? It sounds as if the majority believes that the tree should be saved. 1. You think you are getting conflicting advice because we can't tell what is wrong with your tree yet. 2. Chemicals may be a waste of money until it is identified what is wrong with your tree. 3. As for the statement maples being unable to grow/thrive in this environment , No. We are talking about the environment immediately surrounding the tree - the horrible lawn. It is likely the tree is getting insufficient water and gases. 3a. This means that the tree may be attacked because it cannot get sufficient water and gases in its roots. 3b. This means fix this and you may not need to spray. 3c. However a request was made for you to check for wilt. You have not responded to that. 3d. This means that it is unknown whether your tree has a bad pathogen. Until you check for this everything else is just speculation 3d(1) If you have it, the tree is done. 3d(2) If you do not, the immediate problem is that horrible lawn that is stressing the tree. Until you get that under control, you likely are going to have issues with that tree. 3d(3) From here you need to not only aerate numerous times to alleviate compaction but likely need to add amendment as well. Until you get that under control, you likely are going to have issues with that tree. Dan

Look up maple tar spot to see if it might be that. It could also be something else, of course. The poor fall color would be due to conditions the tree has experienced this season, perhaps next year it will do better - this introduction is known for coloring well despite unsuitable conditions. I bought a 'Red Rage' nyssa this fall. It is still in the pot and got dried out a couple times since I bought it, causing it to droop (but not shrivel or burn). The leaves turned yellow and gradually fell off, from the bottom up. I went back to the nursery and the rest of the 'Red Rage' still there are still in leaf, with a few of them starting to turn red. So apparently the drying out caused mine to behave out-of-character this time. Presumably next year, after having been in the ground for months it will turn red, later in the season.