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What is wrong with my tree? The leaves don't look good.

13 years ago

I'm pretty sure I have a Crimson King Maple. I have lived at my house for a year, but I think the tree is about 2 years old because it was a brand new property and sat vacant for nearly a year.

The leaves are developing holes all over them and browning. I have noticed it is worse at the top of the tree.

I have an irrigation system that waters the whole yard 3 times a week, 20 minutes each time. it waters at 7am. The grass and other plants appear to be doing fine, the tree is the only one having problems.

This time of the year is very hot. We are getting little to no rain and it has been in the 90s nearly every day now for the last few weeks. The tree is in the sunlight all day long, with no shade at all.

What do you think is wrong?

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Comments (7)

musicalperson
13 years ago
Without a picture showing the problem all anyone can do is take wild guesses. Take some pics and post to imageshack.us and then paste the links it gives you for sharing here.
thindery
Original Author
13 years ago
sorry, I tried to include the picture in the post. It is showing up for me, must not be for others.

Here is the link to the image

Here is a link that might be useful: http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4yUMbB9bu33MjBhOTYzMWItMjI0MC00NmY5LThlYzctOWVmOGE0NWJhYWUz&sort=name&layout=list&num=50
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When daffodils get crowded after a few years in the same place without being divided, the bloom production will be much less. They're competing for the nutrients available and can't find enough to make those beautiful blooms. Also, if you cut back the foliage before it browned on its own last spring, they couldn't make enough food for the bulbs to store to produce blooms this spring. The tip burn you see is most likely from a hard freeze after they came up. It won't kill them but makes them look not so nice. And yes, they will benefit from a watering when it gets bone dry. They don't like "wet feet" so don't let them stay saturated, either. (Is that a balancing act, or what? LOL) The best thing you can do is to mark the places where they are, wait till fall, dig them up and replant them in good soil with better spacing. That's the best time to fertilize them, too. You CAN dig them after they die back this spring but don't disturb them now if you can help it. The foliage makes food this time of year for next year's blooms. A light dose of a liquid fertilizer applied now might help if it's watered in well but no guarantees. It might take a couple of years in a new spot to bring them back to full bloom. Good luck with them. They're one of my favorite spring flowers. They always look so cheerful! Sandy
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jqpublic
13 years ago
The picture works for me in the first post. Any chance you can take one of the whole tree (including) where the tree touches the ground. Also take a closer pic of the bark especially if you see anything unusual there. thanks!
thindery
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm including a link to all the photos of the tree on Google. It doesn't require you to login because I have made them public. Thanks for the help!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4yUMbB9bu33MmI2ZDJiZmEtM2I3YS00ZTVkLWE1NDEtZGE0OWU4MDkwOTBl&hl=en&authkey=CNPxpOcH
arktrees
13 years ago
Looks like Japanese Beetles are after it. They are early this year in my location, but so far much less numerous than past years.

Arktrees

Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese Beetles
jean001
13 years ago
I must admit that I don't know about JBs other than they're nasty.

But the 1st 3 images look to me as if this is a serious case of drought stress -- that fits well with the tree's history: a young tree which has been ignored for the past year.

And of course, the chewing damage in #4 is due to a critter. And again I say, JBs are nasty!
brandon7 TN_zone7
13 years ago
Musicalperson,
I wonder if you should check your browser's settings. I've noticed your having problems seeing pictures in other posts also, while, like in this case, I've been able to view the pictures without issue. Maybe something in your browser is blocking images from certain sites or something.

Thindery,
I think Arktrees's guess may be a good one. Japanese beetles love eating Norway Maples.

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