Learn / Ask The Landscape Professional
I have a question for you about a maple tree in our yard. It's about 30-35 years old and for the last few years it has been dropping leaves. The leaves are large and they dry up on the branches and fall onto the yard. It seems like its shedding leaves for some reason. The remainder of the tree is full and looks healthy but I'm wondering why some leaves die and fall at this time of year. Linda, Old Lyme
Answer
What you are seeing is the tree's normal response
to drought conditions. Trees (and all plants for
that matter) take in a phenomenal amount of water
through their root systems, use a small amount of
it in the process of photosynthesis and then lose
90% of it through their leaves in a process called
transpiration. Some trees in full sun can transpire
over 700 gallons of water each day! Even a single
corn plant transpires over 50 gallons of water in
one growing season! When the tree (or plant) starts
losing more water than it's taking in, it will drop
some of its leaves to help regulate its water balance.
It sounds like your Maple is stressed and needs water;
if your tree is a Red Maple, it is definitely stressed
for water. Red Maples are naturally found in lowlands
and near rivers and ponds. I have been seeing a lot of
stressed trees lately, especially Maples. I have a
Heritage River Birch in my yard and it looks like fall
underneath the tree because it has dropped so many
leaves. Allow your hose to just seep water at the base
of the tree over several hours for several days a week
until we start to receive a consistent natural rain
and things should be fine.
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About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
