location.. big city name ..

weather since spring ... drought?? .. heat ... ???

can we see the root flare??

how do you water

how did you plant ...

ugly leaves arent that big a deal in mid summer ... i would want to know whats going on before jumping to direct leaf issues ... already damaged leaves pick up all kinds of things.. as they decline.. that doesnt mean that is what caused the problem ...

ken

West Michigan, summer started hotter than normal but has turned cooler and wetter than normal, I water with a soaker bucket that I can measure gallons and it'll slowly release the water over about an hour or so, I planted last July by digging a hole twice as big as the degradable pot the nursery sent it in and didn't add soil above what was in the pot. I will take a picture of the flare at lunch but I have a weed whacker plastic shroud at the bar of the tree to protect it from me.

did you remove the fiber pot?

my variegated maple is covered with half dead leaves from MI drought and severe heat ..

see section one at this link .. and the rest of course:

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

ken

I did not remove the pot... they told me not to. Yours is a cool looking maple. What you're saying is probably the case for mine as well then. It's got maximum sun.

maybe .... but if never hurts to keep going on figuring it out ...

is any part of the fiber above ground... it could be wicking water out of the soil at root depth ...

is the tree mulched ... maybe a 2 or 3 foot ring?? .. if it was.. you probably wouldnt need the plastic sleeve against your weedwhip ... though that might help with winter sunscald ... and deer scrap ...

dont forget pic of whole tree and root flare ..which btw.. should be covered by the plastic anyway ...

ken

It looks like you could have spider mites feeding on the leaves. Check the underside of that leaf. Rub it on the palm of your hand and see if it leaves little specks of residue on your skin.

What mntreegrower says is what I suspect -- stippling from spider mites, tho I had no idea they attacked maples.

I just looked up what spider mites are. I'll run that test a little later. It looks like I just need to spray the leaves with a strong stream of water to get rid of them if that's what it is, correct?

I tried rubbing a bunch of different leaves but couldn't find any mites. Is there a better time of day to check for them other than the max heat?

remove at least a 2 foot circle of grass.. 3 would be better ... and then go all ncis on the soil.. aka.. gently ... and find the root flare ...

it is NOT good that it is thinner as it goes into the soil.. than above ... i fear it was too deep in the pot

of course it has spider mites.. MI has been in drought.. off and on for the whole summer ... do NOT apply any goos.. but do spray it down.. bugs have a way of finding severely stressed plants ... even a damaged leaf can process sun into energy ... but if you burn them off with goo.. then they cant ...

right now.. its teleephone poled ... and we need to fix that

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trees+planted+too+deep&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

also ... with the mulch ring.. hopefully you can keep whatever you put on the perfect lawn off the tree ... weed killers cant really help ... nor repeated blasts of high nitro fert ... to be clear.. that has nothing to do with whats going on ... just fyi ...

ken

The cool, wet weather you say you've had recently may have already significantly reduced the mite presence on your tree. In my experience, mites rarely cause enough damage to send a young tree into decline. But you can definitely spray your tree down for peace of mind. The greater concern here is checking how deep your tree is planted. I'm guessing the camera angle is making the trunk appear fatter higher up than near the ground, right?

beng - Where I live the Freeman maples usually get hit hard by mites during hot, dry weather. They might be the worst tree for mites that I grow.

You're correct about the camera angle. I went out and measured before spraying and there isn't a decrease. Thanks for all the responses I'll have to wait a few days on the digging.