Wondering if any green thumbs have any ideas here. 13 years ago I gifted my dad a small mail order Autumn blaze maple which he planted . It has grown all these years fairly slowly but steady, but in the last couple of years has struggled. My dad passed away shortly after planting it so it has been a nice little tree to remember him with.

I am afraid it may be done for, as it is mostly red right now. It has shown some bizarre leaf color timing the last couple years but it has almost gone fully red now. For background, it’s planted on the gulf coast. My family home is on a wetland right off the gulf in south Mississippi. They gets lots of rain. It’s largely an acid loving tree area with large oaks, magnolias, and azaleas in a natural white pine savannah. Some times of the year there will be standing water where this tree is, but it eventually drains.

I am wondering if it’s just too waterlogged, which seems unlikely for a maple. It probably had some salt storm surge a couple years ago. Iron chlorosis would cause red leaves in summer but I think shouldn’t usually be a problem in that area. I don’t live there and don’t work the soil a lot so don’t know much about it. I know it’s an unusual tree for that area so hard to compare how it’s performed compared to others. Maybe it’s just rotting….I know it has grown some lichen and Spanish moss stuff on the trunk (which I don’t see here in Colorado, lol) Any suggestions or thoughts on what might be causing it? My mom doesn’t want to lose it.