Hi, Scott, et al, In a different forum/thread, I posted the same question: i.e. do 4 saplings growing close form a single trunk of a solid single core or multiple cores, and 'Brandon6b' replied that, if this did happen, the core/tree-formed may rot. I hope this isn't the case: my reply..... That is very disappointing: that the rot will occur and sometimes will be the cause of premature tree death. In nature, I've seen enormous threes that seem to survive this natural arrangement, or maybe I'm not interpreting the observation correctly: there are 4+ large trunks that are growing so closely that, for the first few feet, the run in parallel contact with one another; maybe they are not 4 separate trees (of the same species and size) but 4 separate suckers coming from the same root system. Maybe a way out of this issue is to get this to happen early on: to arrange the 4 saplings (that are of 1" diameters or so) only 2" apart from each other; to me, it would seem that this would have to cause a single solid tree trunk of the 4. I hope I can figure this out soon, because the saplings are on their way in the mail and are bare root. Thanks, Steve

I forgot exactly how fast it was growing earlier, it actually grows a half a inch a day but now it is in a "drought dormancy" because I have not watered in a while so it is currently not growing, and it has also lost some bottom leaves and has formed a temporary bud to conserve water because of the drought. If I water it some more it should come out of it. You can see we have the worst drought in the U.S. here in the southeast which we have had since spring And I over estimated its height, it is actually just over 4 feet tall. We have about 30 more days of growing season left before trees will start to go dormant for winter. So if I keep it watered it should reach over 5 feet by autumn. Eastern cottonwood trees have been known to grow 1.5 inches a day and maybe even 2 inches a day in superb conditions during the heat of the summer. They have been know to grow 16 feet in one year or one growing season. It has no branches yet but it should by next year. This cottonwood is a female and that's why I planted it in the woods where it will be great to view the yearly "snow" :) I'm planning on getting some cuttings of a old huge male cottonwood tree this spring to plant next to our yard in a tilled and mulched area 10 feet wide. It's going to be planted 40 feet out to give room for the huge burst of growth :-D so we can have a quick shade tree in 5 to 10 years in our barren yard plus many other tree types I'm going to plant in the yard from oaks to maples. How it currently looks today: Some of the leaves were huge, a couple of them were 12 inches long. Temporary bud it has formed because of the drought:

Your problem is almost certainly two-fold. Of course, you're seeing the evidence of a borer infestation and probably consider it the primary problem. What you may not be aware of is the root damage and soil compaction that occurred during the construction process is almost assuredly causal of the major part of your problem. The weakened trees' defenses have likely been seriously compromised, and even a chemical solution (in the form of insecticides) will not alleviate the underlying problem. There is equipment that can help reduce compaction in the area of living trees, but the concrete work will reduce its effectiveness for some of the root zones. Contact an arborist for professional advice if you wish to have any chance of salvaging the affected trees. Al

There are a number of borers that can infest Maple trees depending on where in the United States you are. Some are of little significance and need no action from you while others may. Have you talked with the people at your counties office of your state universities Cooperative extension Service about this? They will know which borer is in your area and also possible treatments if they need control.