Malformed leaves on young Sugar Maple

9 years ago

I have a very young sugar maple that I recently planted. It was given to me last summer and was in a 2+ gallon planter until a couple weeks ago. We had some rough weather this spring, late freeze, high wind day, plus deer attack. Between all of those things it lost a number of the leaves that it put on early in the spring. It seems to be trying to put on some new leaves now but they're all malformed and some a shriveled on the edges. Is this just damage from the late freeze or should I be concerned about some sort of disease/pest damages.

Here are some pictures. Hopefully their good enough to be able to tell something. The leaves are very small and my camera didn't do a very good job of catching the detail but it's the best I could get.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (2)

User
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
It just goes to show you how determined one of these little guys can be. :-)

The leaves are of good color and being the tree is trying to produce more is a good sign! Don't worry about the shapes of the leave, juvenile plants can display such features when starting out.

I would surround the tree with some protection from the deer, rabbits, mice and for sure the highs winds if you get those regularly.

Otherwise, water as needed to keep it moist but not too wet. And don't prune anything, every leaf is making food for the roots and every one counts at this stage of the game. :-)
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a thanked User
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
Original Author
9 years ago
Ok, well that's really encouraging. I just wanted to be sure that if there was some action I needed to take rid it of pests that I could do that. As it is I won't worry about it any more. I'll just give it the same treatment as my other trees...keeping the soil moist but not saturated beyond imagination.
Related Professionals
Cape Coral Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Indianapolis Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Westminster Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · New London Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · El Dorado Landscape Contractors · West Palm Beach Landscape Contractors · Morgan City Landscape Contractors · Manhattan Landscape Contractors · Green Bay Landscape Contractors · Oshkosh Landscape Contractors · Macon Architects & Building Designers · Waco Architects & Building Designers · Temecula Architects & Building Designers · Liberal Architects & Building Designers · Portland Architects & Building Designers