[David C]

I have an acer in the garden , planted it a few years ago and its now about 8ft tall , it always looks gorgeous every year but ive just noticed today that only half of the tree seems to be growing new leaves on it and im wondering what has gone wrong .

The front half of the tree seems dead with no leaf growth atall .

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong and what i can do .

David

[Aunt Sally]

Check to see if the wood is dead on those bits David - scrape the bark with a sharp knife to see if the layer just underneath is still healthy.  If the twigs snap easily those areas are dead 

[David C]

Have just been out and done what you said auntsally and it seems the fron half of the tree is dead 

Why will this have happend , the tree has always been so healthy and looked amazing especially in the evenings during the summer whe we had it lit up from below ,

Im guessing that i now need to cut all the dead wood right back .

[Runwell-Steve]

I think the winter has hit the Acers hard this year, at least thats what I'm hoping.

We have quite a few that had quite a bit of dead wood in them this year.  I have given them all a prune to remove all the dead material, right back to where it is still alive.

I am hoping they will all recover nicely.  It's the first year we have had this so I am hoping it was the weather and nothing more sinister.

[Aunt Sally]

Oh dear  

Is it the side facing the early morning sun ?

Cut all the dead pieces off and you will find it will sprout from the live wood again but it will take a few years to recover.

[David C]

Yes it is , infact the back half of the tree which has new leaves growing is more shaded by a tree in the neaighbours garden , i just dont understand why its been fine all these years and now this year this has happened .

Right time to get back out in the garden and get pruning then , going to plant all my sweet peas whilst im out there lol

[Aunt Sally]

When there's a frost in the spring. It's not the frost that kills the tissues it's the sudden warming by the sun in the early morning.

We've had a few hard frost followed by sunny mornings here this spring.

You could protect east facing sides of tender growth with some fleece in the early spring.

[Runwell-Steve]

Thanks Aunt Sally I never realised that.

The Acers of ours that have been hit hardest are those that get the early morning sun, so that all makes sense now.