Question
White foam on Maple
We have 2 maples on the south side of the house, Ohio, planted about 2.5 years ago. One is beautiful bright green firm leaves. The other began loosing its leaves the beginning of spring and a white foaming substance appeared on the lower part of its trunk. Now there is no sign of life up top. At the base of the tree sprouts have begun to grow. The neighbors want the tree cut down. Is the tree dead? Will the upper part come back next year? Is the healthy tree, @ 39-49 ft away, in danger of getting the same thing?
AnswerI can not tell from the description what killed the tree but the white are fruiting bodies of a decay fungi. Decay fungi enter dying or dead trees to help break down the wood and are not the cause of trees dying. I would say the tree is dead and it will not leaf out next year. I would go ahead and cut the dead part off and save the new sprouts. These over time will become the new tree. Next year one of the sprouts will be larger than the others. At that time cut the smaller ones off and let the taller grow. This will be the new trunk of the new tree. I do not think whatever killed the tree is going to bother the others --a disease or insect problem would have already spread to the others. I would guess the death was related to weather probably cold weather. Sorry!
