I have a Japanese Maple that looks like it's dying a slow death. I hope I'm wrong. Perhaps it need a good pruning? I need some suggestions as to properly care for this. There are some areas that are not growing as well as last year. Should I just prune these? Any help out there would be greatly appreciated.
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Did you notice any problems with it last year, or are the problems just showing up now in the spring when it's leafing out? I think in your zone some JM's could get damaged a bit by cold, so if you didn't notice any issues in the warmer months last year then that's likely what happened. If the tree's fully leafed out now and those areas are showing no signs of growth then they're likely dead so you can cut them out. But if you were having problems last year before winter came along, then it would help to see some pictures or at least get a description of the symptoms you were noticing last year, that will make it easier to figure out what's going on.
Thanks, ecrane3. I didn't notice any problems with my JM last year. This is the first season it started to occur. I'll heed your advice and trim back the dead branches. Hopefully, the rest of the JM won't suffer.
If it is just cold damage the rest of it should be fine...however if this particular JM is a little sensitive to your winters then you may end up with similar problems in future years if the winters are a bit on the cold side, so you might think about whether there's a more protected area of the yard you could move it to, or else give it some protection anytime you're expecting abnormally cold weather.
