Why do problems arise in the urban environment?
Sugar maples are found in northern hardwood forests, where the soils are deep, fertile and well-drained and where there is abundant organic matter. Sugar maples cannot take the climatic stresses associated with urban sites and cultural issues involving poor planting practices compound the problem. Field examinations and excavations of symptomatic maples in urban areas this season consistently found that trees were planted too deeply and trees had stem girdling roots. An example is shown in the photo above. Note the decline in the foreground maple and the stem girdling roots seen with just a brief soil excavation around the root collar. Also note the older non-symptomatic sugar maple in the background planted many years before. In rural areas it has been common to find Armillaria root disease associated with symptomatic trees. In these recent surveys, evidence of Verticillium wilt was not seen.
