Sun scald and early leaf loss on Autumn Blaze maple tree

David Williams

6 years ago

This is my Autumn Blaze maple tree. I would like to make my tree healthier. I had my soil tested recently and the pH was 7.8. The nutrient results were way out of whack! 5-19-494 were the results from multiple areas in the front yard. The ideal for bermuda. The ideal results they gave me 60-65-300. I did a tree bag gator during dry spells prior to this year. Now, I have a soaker hose that I allow to water for 2-3 hours.

Planted 6 years ago

Loses leaves early every year

Developed sun scald (or whatever that wound is) approximately 3 years ago

The wound is on the West side of the tree

The trunk has been wrapped for approximately 3 years as well.

I do apply a pest and fungal product in the spring.

I am in Zone 7 plant hardiness zone (Oklahoma)

The soil is very much clay. I have been adding gypsum for about 4-5 years.

My questions are:

Is my tree a goner?

If it is worth saving, should I wrap it year round? The wrap kinda seems like an eyesore in my front yard is why I ask

I know I need to do a better job with the nutrients, is there any specific thing I should be adding? I am thinking about adding sulfur to increase the acidity and of course a fertilizer. The fertilizers I have seen all increase the potassium which is already really high.

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Comments (4)

maifleur03
6 years ago
Do not waste your time and effort. Something wounded the tree with the resulting bark split. You can not repair that type of damage now. You will always have a very weak tree.

As far as leaf loss trees will lose their leaves when they want to respond to weather conditions.
David Williams
Original Author
6 years ago
Yeah, the bark is really ugly, and seeing the tree does not bring me a lot of joy. We may be listing our house within the next year or 2. So I am not real wild about either digging this tree up or paying to have this tree dug up. I've just kinda been nursing it along.

When the tree was planted, I asked the people doing it to plant it a little deeper....thinking that would keep the roots under the ground. Big mistake. As I have been learning more about planting, it turns out if you plant a tree too deep it has a tendency to split like this :(
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x Steel
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
So what is the answer? Mine is doing the same, SW side, leaves on that side start turning orange yellow in august! White mushroom shelf stuff growing in small places. My neighbor one street over has the same tree. Our houses face the same direction and tree is planted same place. Theirs's is still green. I don't understand. Autumn blaze maples do not always do this. What've I've read is, yeah, it's a goner. But WHAT causes it and WHAT will prevent it. I see plenty of them healthy. Even the garden stores look and say they don't know. Someone has to know. Any ideas would be great or where to go? I know the tree was planted TOO high above ground ---8". So I did infill that with good dirt around 2019 to level it. Perhaps the roots grew up too long since they planted it too high above the soil and just threw mulch on it to hide it. Trees are so expensive to replace. This has been going on for 2.5 years of 4.5 that it's been planted. Soil seems to be fine when checked too.
makmartell
3 years ago
@x Steel - what does the base of the tree look like? Too deep will kill a plant much more quickly than too high. You talked about ’infill’ing it… that may be your problem. Post a pic of the base of the trunk and I may be able to suss out more.