Japanese Maple - Tamukeyama Can anyone please help with what may be happening to my Japanese Maple? Tree is about 4 feet. Has been established and done well since planted 4 years ago in our garden. The tree seems to be under stress leaves are very narrow, you would think it needed water, but this is not the case, we have received over 4 inches of rain in the past few days. I have attached pictures of the trunk with recent damage. It appears to be splitting and it looks like the outer layer of the bark is rotting a little. There are no obvious pests on the tree and the damage is about 6 inches from the ground. Any ideas? Thank you. Image link:

Ah yes. That looks like an amazingly sharp die back line in the second picture. Let me say I love the leaf coloration on your tree. Do you know what cultivar it is? All the new growth must be a sign the pot didn't cook enough to damage the roots..... It looks to me like the "branches" sprouting up from the base of the trunk have the same leaves as the tallest live remaining portion of the tree. Is this correct? If any are significantly different I'd probably snip them off assuming it was understock of a grafted tree sprouting. Oh, and I'd probably wimp out and make a sharp pruning cut about an inch over the change in the bark in the center of the second picture. Wait for the experts to agree or disagree with me. I'm relatively new to this maple thing in particular.

Hi All - We just bought 3 Japanese maples yesterday (Bloodgood) that we plan to plant tomorrow. While the trees are generally in good shape, I did notice some damage to the leaves, that looks like it has been caused by some sort of bug or pest. I assume this is not good for the tree and in order to give them the best chance at survival and keep them as healthy as possible, I need your help - any thoughts on what specifically caused this damage and what can/should I do to prevent further damage? Any treatment, spray, etc? Unfortunately, the focus of the photos turned out poorly, so I apologize for the blurriness, but you can see little holes in the leaves - not terrible, but there.

It is the inner bark of the japanese maple that they are after. They also harvest the bark from a few other trees, but if there is a japanese maple around its the one. The inner bark dries out to a very fine fibrous fluff after they chew it up and process it for their nests. The sap that runs in the spring is *decent*, but thats not what they are after—they can get much better sap from other species, such as red or sugar maple or river birch, etc. It’s the inner bark they want. They usually will not strip branches that are less than 1/2” to 1’ thick, unless they are desperate. Dogs/cats will not be an effective deterent. Squirrels are persistent and patient and very serious and committed concerning their nest-building endeavors. They will not be deterred by predators. They will simply learn routines and the yard’s vulnerable times when the trees are unprotected and they will adapt and overcome any predator threat they encounter while hunting for a gathering nest building materials. Trying to draw then away with food or another source of bedding will not work. They are not after food and they dont want your replacement mayerials like cotton balls or lint or anything else. Nothing is as good for their purposes as the inner bark just above the cambium layer of the japanese maple. So, drawing them away from the tree will simply not work—that is, unless you are using a bigger, more healthy japanese maple for the squirrels as an alternative to your tree. (Where they can harvest all the bedding they please.) There are three approaches you can try. 1. You can try to physically stop them with aluminum foil/wrapping chicken wire around the braches several times, or using something even better like aluminum flashing. 2. You can try to deter them. Using sparlkly shiny stuff like christmas tinsel/icicles or CDs hanging in the branches. Will take a lot and its ugly but it only needs to be there during nest-building season. 3. You can try to make it taste terrible. Using a combination of hot pepper and some terrible tasting grease, or whatever concoction you find works. Usually it will take a combo ot at least two of these tactics and sometimes all three, although if the squrrels areng desperate maybe only one. With squirrels and Japanese maples, you can follow the “how to survive a bear attack rule”. (You dont have to run faster than the bear to survive—you only need to be faster than the slowest memeber of your party.) So yeah, You dont necessarily have defeat the squirrels and drive them off. You just need some neighbors with bigger and better maples than yours. Convince some neighbors to plant Japanese maples all over the place in the neighborhood and eventually they will have way more than they could ever utilize. And they‘ll leave you and your japanese maple alone in peace. Cheers.