I would leave it until the buds swell and you can say with certainty what is alive and what is dead. Even if Autumn Blaze is planted a little too deep they are cutting grown and can easily survive. Figure out how much too deep it is and see if you can create a shallow depression down to the root flare rather than raising the whole thing up. Did you water the tree after it was installed? Surprising that A.B. would have any dieback unless it was from poor initial quality or a lack of post-installation care.

Well two issues from the installer were that he planted it too deep and also put a weed barrier arounf the entire root ball. He also instructed me to deeply water the tree because it was new. I believe I overwatered it initially.

thanks I'll leave it as is but will try to create a shallow depression down to the root flare.

What was the "weed barrier" around the root ball?

It's a black fabric thats supposed to stop the growth of weeds by the plants but it has tiny holes to let the water thru. Not sure what's its called but I cut it as much as I could last year.

Yeah, those landscape fabrics are near-scam. Organic matter/debris/your mulch material as it breaks down are all going to offer a seed bed on top of that stuff, so weeds will still happen. But now, half their roots will be above the fabric, half below. In any case, has nothing to do with whether top of tree is alive or dead. I guess I'd ask the obvious question-why do you not think the tree's top portion to be alive? Keep in mind, many plants green out in the spring from bottom to top. Maybe that's all there is to this. Finally, be advised, AB maple is a very vigorous cultivar. Many narrow crotch angles typically happen, and later in the tree's life, these are ripe to break out in storms. By any means available to you, try to find a competent certified arborist who understands subordination pruning. That phrase, though perhaps not one you've heard much, is an absolutely essential way to get trees such as this to develop a single, central leader, to not have lots of narrow v-crotch angles, and to develop a structure which will allow the tree to last in the landscape. This is a concern while the tree is young and in its formative years, not so much later on.

+oM

give it lots of time... to sprout up high.. sometimes they are late ...

this was two bad winters in a row ... on a recent transplant ...

crikey on your planting wizard ... he needs some dementors to track him down ...

not a great pic.. to add much else ...

ken

Thanks everyone. I thought the top portion to be drad because last year all the leaves fell off the top very early I think around July. I was able to raise the tree which was no easy task. Here are some photos. Hopefully it will be just fine. I'll look into finding a certified arborist down the road.

Poor thing, getting dug up again. I can't tell from these two photos whether or not you've corrected the planting depth problem. Remember, you want to be able to see the flared area where trunk meets root system. That root flare should be at or just above grade.

Your statement that tree lost upper leaves in July is troubling. If that really happened, is far too early to be ascribed to normal, healthy processes. Let's see what happens next.

+oM

Yes now the root flare is now slightly above grade. All of the weed barrier has been removed. I wish I would of done this work a few weeks ago but time was lacking.

Posting some updated pics. Still no growth on the upper portion but the bottom/mid seems fine.

Should I cut the top off or wait a few more weeks?

there is a post in the hosta forum .. stating you had frost in chi town last night ...

how about you give it a month ... crikey dude.. chill out .. lol ..

you can always cut more off .. you cant glue back on.. stuff you cut off ...

ken

Haha good point. We did have some frost last night. I'll chill for a month ha.

I am NW of the city and my maple hasn't started leafing out at all yet.

Good to hear that you removed the weed fabric. People are way too enamored of this stuff (regardless of the advertising, it tends to produce compacted, poorly aerated soil in its vicinity, and while it eventually breaks down you can't depend on it doing so fast enough to prevent root restriction).

Thanks for sharing Dingo2001 and rusty_blackhaw. Good points. I was just highly concerned about the top portion not growing yet since the leaves fell off in July of last summer but only time will tell at this point.

Don't be cutting on stressed maples when the sap is flowing. Prune out dead wood early summer.

My AB still has zero growth in the mid and upper portion. Any advice?

new pic please

my best advice ..... get rid of it now.. its driving you insane... lol ...

you can take off dead stuff.. any time.. in the next three years ...

in the mean time... we see how it continues to leaf out ..

consider it an experiment ... not something on the time clock ... if you cant deal with it in tree time.. counted in decades ... then it will just bug you ...

its obviously alive ... and all you can do.. is give it the time it needs ... OR.. get rid of it ...

never saw the rest of the yard ... but maybe if you planted a nice 3 to 5 foot oak or some such ... out 10 or 30 feet ... you can put in a real experiment.. and watch the smaller outgrow the larger .... and then.. if you decide to chuck it in on this one.. you already have the replacement thriving ...

next best tree planting time is fall or spring.. spring for oak ...

dont really know what an arborist costs.. nor if i would invest the money in such ... might be more than the cost of that second tree ...

ken

Thanks Ken. I'll give it one more year and if doesn't do well then I'll cut it down and look into putting an Oak tree there

Quick update from last yesr. decided to prune the upper portion of AMB that was dead. It was challenging because of the height. Pruned and let's see what happens. I've decided to let it grow and see what happens although I'm assuming it will be stunted after this major prune.