Question
Hello, planted 5 young maples about 3 feet high this past fall. Dog has bitten off the leader of one and is left with a side branch from the leader. I plan on waiting and seeing what will become of this, is this the right thing to do, or is the tree unrecoverable? Also, another of my young red maples is only budding about a foot down from the leader...half of the leader has died off. Will this tree recover from this?

Thank you

Answer
The one with the side branch that is becoming the new terminal will do fine. It may have a little crook in the trunk fro a while but over the years this will tend to go away.

It is common for maples to have some top dieback the first year--they seem to be putting growth into the root system and the top does not get enough to leaf out. I check the "dead" leader and see if it is alive or not. Start near the end of the leader and scrap a small bit of bark off the branch. IF the color under the bark is green the leader is still alive at this point on the branch. If the color is brown the leader is dead at this point. IF brown continue down the leader scraping at intervals until you reach green or the leafed out part. You can do one of two things --prune the dead off now or I would wait until June and then prune the dead off --it will be easier to see then.

Both trees should recover nicely!!