I have a large maple, and before anyone asks, I have no idea what kind it is. I DO know it's not a JM. So that leaves, what? About 200 OTHER species? I'm sure it would help if you knew, but I can't even find one that looks similar in tree books. It originally came as a small cutting from Winnipeg Canada, so at least I know it has Canadian "blood" in it. (joke) I wrote this forum not too long ago about the squirrels tearing strips of bark off this tree and was wondering not only why they would do this, but if it would kill the tree. The other day I looked out the window and a very large branch was laying across one of the lawn chairs. It was big enough that had someone been sitting in that chair, I doubt it would have killed them, but it sure would have hurt! I went out to look at it and found 6 more branches that had broken off! They ALL had their bark stripped and looked dead to me. (Not ALL the bark was gone, just patches about a foot long on one side) I then looked up into the tree, which stands about 40 feet tall, and noticed at least 5 more branches just hanging by a thread waiting to fall. I looked at other branches and noticed that although they still looked healthy, their bark had been stripped and where they hook onto the main trunk, it looked sort of rotten.........maybe not rotten, but it had a much darker color and to me looked like they were going to be the next ones to break. Sorry I'm not being more precise about this, it's so weird to me and I'm finding it difficult to explain what it looks like. ARE the squirrels to blame for this damage? I have two other maples in my yard, both different types, and nothing is stripping THEIR bark. Or is this tree just dying for some other reason (if it IS dying) and THAT is why the squirrels are doing this? How can I tell if it's dying? Should I cut it down? I really don't want to do that....but if it comes to that, can I take a cutting and how does one do that? This tree means a lot to me for a very special reason and I hope someone can help me with this. Thank you so much.

Greenlydia