Verticillium wilt?

Hi, I had a sugar maple that was planted in clay soil and did well for about 8 years. It grew fast and was spectacular each fall. Then it started exhibiting some of the symptoms you describe. After it died and we dug it out of the ground, we discovered it was rootbound and perhaps died from that. We DID dig a huge hole when we planted it but obviously not big enough for the root system. When the roots grew outside of that nice soil we filled the hole with, they couldn't (or didn't) penetrate the clay and grew round and round.

We have a Sugar Maple exhibiting the exact same issues as outlined above. It struggles to come to life each spring, losing a lot of leaves and many dead branches. I found it helps to trickle water around the base of the tree for several hours each day throughout May. The tree seems to respond and manages to rebound. However, by late summer / early fall its leaves have turned and the tree is entirely bare by the time most other trees are in full fall colour.

This spring was the worst yet... a lot of die-back and the leaves are very slow to grow. I worry that next year will be its last. What a shame!! We rely on this tree for much needed shade.

I'm guessing it is rootbound... which might explain why it responds to watering at the base. Any other suggestions????

I generally plant smaller bare root trees and water by sprinkler not just the area not just the base of the tree to encourage root spread.

Sugars either do amazingly well or very poorly - there never seems to be an in-between.

They're fairly finicky trees and in my humble opinion, the most beautiful, but also hardest to grow/transplant, of the large-sized maples.

There are diseases and pests, but nothing to the scale of Emerald Ash Borer or Dutch Elm disease...could be anthracnose or something.

I live in NW Lousiana, and ordered a sugar maple from a nursery in Michigan (may have been the first mistake because I couldn't find one in all of LA). It's just a baby, and when I received it, which was approx. 4 weeks ago, I planted it in a 30-gal pot so I could watch it until a better transplant time around Nov or Dec. When I received the tree, it had small buds. I live in a rather wooded area, but I placed the tree where it would get at least 5 hours of sun per day. All of the buds opened up rather quickly because of our heat, and the edges of every leaf are burned. I moved the pot where it would get less sun, and the new leaves since I moved it appear okay. My question--isn't a sugar maple supposed to be in the sun? Should I have acclimated it more slowly, am I wasting my time? (the tree is about 6 ft).

Oh my goodness, just realized I should have posted a new message--sorry!!

You're definitely pushing the limits here. The normal range of the Sugar Maple stops in Middle TN and the lower plains states. There is a closely related tree - the Black Maple - which is sometimes called the 'Southern Sugar Maple' that you could also try. Its natural range goes a little further south than the Sugar Maple. (Its called Black Maple because the bark on older trees gets a very dark, sort of sooty looking color.)

All that being said, your Sugar Maple will probably survive if you take good care of it. Maples can grow in the shade, and in fact in Tennessee where I am they almost always show up as understory trees. They can grow in full sun, but they seem just as happy in light to medium shade. In your case, I would give it a dappled shade location, if you have one.

You could also try one of the red maple / silver maple hybrids, such as 'Autumn Fantasy', which have astounding fall color and are relatively fast growing. Both of those species are much more well adapted to your location.

Regards,

K4