Q: My maples have struggled all summer long. The leaves on some of them started changing color back around July, and in my Coral Bark maple, leaves on the tree’s top branches are falling off and some leaf tips are burnt. What’s happening?

A: I was hearing concern from a number of listeners about maple trees this summer, so about a month ago, I invited Japanese maple expert Norm Mittleider on the show to discuss what to do about some of these symptoms.

Thin, new branches, or whips, that appear at the tops and outsides of the maple are most susceptible to sun damage. They often react by dropping those leaves.

Leaf scorch is just as it sounds. The edges of the leaves turn brown and crispy. Norm assured me that leaves at the tips of branches are the first to brown out and the tree isn’t going to die, unless all of the leaves on a branch turn brown. Then there’s a problem, he says.

Early leaf-turn on a newly planted tree could be due to it not getting consistent moisture throughout the summer. Never let the root ball of a new tree dry out. Norm also says of the leaf color, “a faint turning early is not a problem. But if the color change goes full-cycle and then leaves turn brown, there could be a larger problem.”

Each of these visible symptoms can be traced back to our hot summer! And the prolonged dry spell we had in June didn’t exactly set us up for instant success. Things you can do to protect trees from the heat are providing them with consistent water, mulching around and out three feet or more, and even staking a shade cloth over the tree’s canopy during the hottest parts of the year.

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