glocklt4
ArboristSite Lurker
Hello, I could really use some help as I feel like I'm about to lose my second 50gal Shantung Maple in 2 years in a row. Early last Summer we planted one and had a really hot Aug/Sept in Dallas, and around Sept-Oct leaves were already turning like it was fall and dropping (that usually happens Nov here), and then it ended up having dead leaves on it in fall which I knew was not a good sign. I kept fingers crossed all winter that it would still be alive in Spring but it was a goner. So we replaced it again with another 50ish gal in April but now having similar problems!
It has looked great until the past two weeks or so, but starting then it has been dropping some normal green leaves (without much brown on tips), and now the past 2 days half the leaves on the tree are curled, dry, and some brown, and almost half the tree's leaves are on the ground. It is looking bare very quickly. It has been over 100F here a lot lately, and will continue to be for the next few weeks probably, so I have been watering it extra like everything else, and put an additional layer of mulch on about a week ago as well to help conserve moisture thinking that it was drying out from the heat, but now I'm wondering if somehow it's overwatered. We have clay here in Dallas, and when I removed the previous diseased (fire blight) ~30-40' sweetgum tree, we dug a hole about twice as big as the 55gal root ball (about all I could do). Packed in new proper soil around it and compacted well, 2 bags of mulch on top back in April. Initially watered every 2 days when it was first planted, then every 3ish starting a month later, and then every 4-5 the past month. I would fill a 20 gal watering bag for slow watering, but also water for a few minutes as well. All worked just fine until now, at 3.5mo out. I now also wonder if adding more mulch a couple weeks ago has caused this as well by depriving oxygen. I have now moved the mulch out away from the trunk in 1' radius and exposed some of the soil (compared to the picture below). Also worth noting that it seems these curled leaves are almost all on the same branches (not scattered throughout the tree). There are other branches which don't have many/any curled leaves, so it seems a whole branch at a time is being affected.
Any advice? Can I save this tree?
It has looked great until the past two weeks or so, but starting then it has been dropping some normal green leaves (without much brown on tips), and now the past 2 days half the leaves on the tree are curled, dry, and some brown, and almost half the tree's leaves are on the ground. It is looking bare very quickly. It has been over 100F here a lot lately, and will continue to be for the next few weeks probably, so I have been watering it extra like everything else, and put an additional layer of mulch on about a week ago as well to help conserve moisture thinking that it was drying out from the heat, but now I'm wondering if somehow it's overwatered. We have clay here in Dallas, and when I removed the previous diseased (fire blight) ~30-40' sweetgum tree, we dug a hole about twice as big as the 55gal root ball (about all I could do). Packed in new proper soil around it and compacted well, 2 bags of mulch on top back in April. Initially watered every 2 days when it was first planted, then every 3ish starting a month later, and then every 4-5 the past month. I would fill a 20 gal watering bag for slow watering, but also water for a few minutes as well. All worked just fine until now, at 3.5mo out. I now also wonder if adding more mulch a couple weeks ago has caused this as well by depriving oxygen. I have now moved the mulch out away from the trunk in 1' radius and exposed some of the soil (compared to the picture below). Also worth noting that it seems these curled leaves are almost all on the same branches (not scattered throughout the tree). There are other branches which don't have many/any curled leaves, so it seems a whole branch at a time is being affected.
Any advice? Can I save this tree?