If nobody comes to rescue this tree then you need to rescue yourself from it. Get rid of it.

Dave

It's a terrible tree for residence lawn. Get rid of it. It should be against the law for planting that tree in the lawn.

Wait till mid-september at the earliest to plant a new tree.

Choices to get...

If you need large trees that grows reasonably fast..

Bur oak
Chinkapin oak
Shumard oak - Make sure it can tolerate alkaline soil. It seems to be hit or miss but beautiful oak tree.
mexican white oak aka monterrey oak
Bald Cypress - hit or miss like shumard oak
Montezuma cptress - semi evergreen version of bald cypress - grows a lot faster than bald cypress
Caddo Maple (sugar maple from southwestern OK)
Big Tooth maple (sugar maple from South-Central Texas)

Medium sized trees

shantung maple (www.metromaples.com - best place to get one)
Chineses pistache - make sure it's male if posssible.
Texas Ash (might be large tree, not sure exactly)

I'm sure there are more but nothing is coming up in my mind at the moment

AVOID BRADFORD PEAR. IT'S VASTLY OVERPLANTED. Very short lived... Same thing for Arizona Ash aka Fan Tex that I saw at Lowes...

Check out Dirt Doctor website (www.dirtdoctor.com) to find out what trees do great in north texas since he's based in that area so he has a lot of experiences with growing trees here.

AVOID BRADFORD PEAR.....ditto.... I don't even thik Spruce with disagree with this one well maybe ;>) a truly BAD tree...it has I believe as do some others a genetic defect ...they are VERY short lived and split easily even in a medium wind you could probably split it with air from an air compressor ..well maybe not but you get my drift... They are over planted as lou said but at least around here you don't see big ones in one piece..one limb missing here and there then you just drive buy and know about half will be on the ground after last nights 1/8" rain "storm"... I persoanlly think if you are gonna grow a fruit tree grow one with fuit but thats just my opinion and that aside a tree that fragile is best left for a photograph on your wall if you really want one ;>) David

Thanks for all the information provided. I guess i will get rid of the silver maple. To replace this tree i was thinking of a medium size tree like an October Glory Maple tree. Do you guys have any idea how they do in alkaline soils? I already have about 7 shantung maple trees, 2 brandywines and 1 paperbark tree on my property.

Well, Do you have Shantung Maple 'Fire Dragon'? ;) It's great because of consistent cardinal red fall color leaves. 7 shantung maples... you got me beat there. I have 5. I'd plant more but my wife said we have enough trees on .199 acre lot...

You just moved in that new house and you already have that many trees? Hmm...

Ok back to the subject... I take it that you have black gumbo soil that is impossible to work with? Do you have limestone/Caliche underneath? If so, how deep?

What about Caddo sugar maple? Big Tooth maple? Both are similiar and verdicts are still not out on which one does better in certain situtation. I have Caddo maple in my back yard in caliche soil but I'm having chlrosis problem probably due to all the rain past month. The bottom 2/3 of leaves are nice dark green leaves but the new top 1/3 of new growth past month are yellow leaves with green veins that are getting "burned". It is unfortunate. I don't have Big Tooth Maple mainly because the info on it is that it is slow grower scared me away. I found a nursery (Love Creek) in Medina, Texas where Lost Maples forest is close by and they claim that they can grow 3-4 feet a year so I might drive there and get one.

Chalk Maple is another sugar maple but small. Trident maple might also do fine but doesn't get very big.

Lou, thanks for all the info. I do have 4 fire dragons already. I have big front and back yards. As far as the soil is concern I would have to say that i have the black gumbo but right underneath (approx. 8") is the caliche or limestone. Not sure which one it is though. If i can't make up my mind as to what tree i will plant i will get another fire dragon from metro maples. All the maple trees i have on my property i got from metro maples. I just want a variety of maple trees. By the way, the other tree that came with the house was a bradford pear. What a surprise! I was hoping to plant a red maple tree such as the october glory, scarlet maple, etc. Not sure how well they do in these type of soils. I will look into the chalk maple.

My choice would be to drive to Love Nursery nearby San Antonio and get a nice big tooth maple esp when they are claiming that they can grow 3-4 feet a year. I just dont think red maples would do any well with caliche/limestone underneath gumbo topsoil because of high risk of chlorisis problem. You can try Caddo Maple. I got them at Petal Pushers in Cedar Hill but they aren't very big. Mine grew 2 feet already after being planted last fall so that isn't too bad other than chlorisis problem or just too much rain. It's the only place in DFW that I know of that has Caddo maple. I might replace it with fire dragon if it continue to have problems. Fire Dragons seem to be doing GREAT of all the trees I have.

4 fire dragons... wow. it should be a spectacular fall display in 5 years from today!