Silver Maple Shock Recovery

[mdkrause]

[align=left]"I have a large silver maple in my front yard (approx 20-25 years old) and maybe 40-45 feet tall.**About 18 months ago in the Summer I was redoing my lawn and an overzealous dirt removal crew removed a large portion of this tree's roots.**The roots were cut back to about 10-12 feet from the trunk all the way around the tree.**These were not nice clean cuts either, many of the roots were torn and mangled when I investigated.**In short, the tree was traumatized.**Needless to say the tree went into shock, but made it through that initial Summer and Fall.**The roots were covered quickly with new dirt and plent of water was provided as I tried to minimize the damage.**When it came back in the Spring the leaves were smaller and thinner than usual.**The tree made it through the whole growing Season in this sort of lame (stunted) fashion.**I'm wondering what to expect for the next Season.**Is the tree likely to continue showing a stunted development or should I expect it to eventually return to full sized leaves and vigorous growth?**Any comments or shared experiences would be appreciated.**mdkrause"
[/align]

[Newt]

Hi Mdkrause,

So sorry to hear this.* Hopefully you took video or pictures before, during and after.* Sometimes trees will survive such treatment, but trees tend to decline slowly from such an experience and it could take 2 years or more before you see the effects of the crown beginning to die, if that is what will happen

If it were my tree I would have a certified arborist take a look at it when it leafs out this spring.* They might want to add beneficial micro-organisms or fertilize it to help with root regeneration.

Newt