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Maple Tree Care

Maple trees are a sturdy, well regarded species. They have some common problems though.

Maple Tree Health Care - We find that weakened maples can be over-run by aphids, a leaf sucking insect, during the late spring and summer months. On the "soft" maples, cottony maple scale is usually present if there is a lot of honeydew, which can be mistaken for sap. This scale needs to be sprayed as it crawls in summer. When the females are laying the eggs, the maple twigs will have what looks like little marshmallows.

If the maple's leaves are yellowing, soil compaction or lack of soluble nutrients can create a condition called chlorosis. We treat this with a chelated fertilization by injection which makes soil nutrients more available to the maple. You also may need a bark fertilizer called Envirotree, applied during the summer.

Maple Tree Trimming - You can prune maples anytime of year. If you trim in late winter the sap will bleed. It's important to make the correct pruning cuts and not leave stubs when trimming. That is doubly true on a young maple. If not properly pruned, the tree will be more apt to decay. The shape of mature maple is very hard to change if it hasn't been trimmed.

A maple in decline may show signs of dying off from the top down. If the tree was not planted properly or the drainage is poor, root starvation can occur.

Maple Tree Removal. - Maple tree removal is pretty straightforward except if your tree has pockets of decay. this can create a hazard situation.