Crimson king maple tree not budding

km79

Planted a crimson king maple tree last July. By end if August the leafs had shriveled up and began to fall. Not a good sign ! The only tree in the garden to do so. I said if leave it till spring and see how it did.
Bar one solitary leave at the very very bottom of the tree(almost at soil level) no other leaves have come out. I've scratched various parts of stem/ branches and all are green. I've another one of the trees about 30/40 foot away which is doing well. It has been fed watered etc
Anything I can do /look into or should I go back to the garden centre ?

catastrophy

Try cutting it back. The top part may have died for numerous reasons. What was the rootball like when you planted it?

km79

catastrophy wrote: »

Try cutting it back. The top part may have died for numerous reasons. What was the rootball like when you planted it?

I think it was ok. Don't remember it not being anyway. It has already been cut back in parts but I suppose I can cut a bit back and see if its helps

catastrophy

I cut what appears to have been a maple in a similar condition to yours brutally about a month ago, a real last throw of the die in order to save it. It's now a healthy and bushy little tree.

km79

catastrophy wrote: »

I cut what appears to have been a maple in a similar condition to yours brutally about a month ago, a real last throw of the die in order to save it. It's now a healthy and bushy little tree.

Ill post a few pics tomorrow anyway.
Is it too late to cut it back for this summer ?

km79

First photo is entire tree
2nd is the solitary leaf
3 and 4 are closer up view of branches with what I thought were buds ready to leaf but have stayed like that for 2 months or so

catastrophy

The lower end of the tree will spring into life first, so maybe it's worth watering and feeding. The upper branches do look dried out/dead but its very hard to tell from a pic. If you do want to cut it back do so at an angle and above the live branch. I'd also weed and mulch at the base of the tree - stops the tree losing nutrients to weeds and grass.

km79

catastrophy wrote: »

The lower end of the tree will spring into life first, so maybe it's worth watering and feeding. The upper branches do look dried out/dead but its very hard to tell from a pic. If you do want to cut it back do so at an angle and above the live branch. I'd also weed and mulch at the base of the tree - stops the tree losing nutrients to weeds and grass.

I've cut it back a bit now and gonna feed it at weekend. See if that brings its on.
Thanks for the advice

catastrophy

Just added a pic in the above post. Approx six weeks after cutting back.

Hope it works out for you.

pwurple

km79 wrote: »

Planted a crimson king maple tree last July. By end if August the leafs had shriveled up and began to fall.

Sounds like it suffered from drought from the moment you planted it.

Did you water it well every day? July is a tough time of year to plant a tree.

km79

pwurple wrote: »

Sounds like it suffered from drought from the moment you planted it.

Did you water it well every day? July is a tough time of year to plant a tree.

It may have been August . Planted 4 others all doing well. Watered fed etc the same. I'm actually more afraid that the wetness of the site over winter may have been a factor. Although it did lose its leaves very early and the other maple is fine. Strange one.

periodictable

From your photo of the single purple shoot, you may get decent growth by summer's end. For me the worry is that there's a mass of dead wood above this and it may extend into the wood below the shoot, and then you've got a tree trying to make it but with a stem that's already rotting.
I'd take a somewhat mercenary view of things-if your tree does not have a new shoot of almost 1m by the end of the summer, just pull it out and get a new one. It's also important to keep the area around the tree for 1/2m either side weed/grass clear. Something simple like mulching with grass cuttings should do the trick. Studies show that tree growth is impeded by up to 66% if there is grass competition. The grass deprives it of water and nutrients.