Japanese Maple issue

[Michelle25]

Hi, I'm new here and have a question.I started noticing some bare spots in my Crimson Queen Japanese Maple this spring. I'm trying to figure out if this is normal or if I have an issue. This is a large specimen and looks to have been here for many years. I've lived here for 4 years and have never pruned it out of fear that I might do something wrong. I have done some reading and am hoping it's not verticillium wilt. Any ideas?

 

[Chuck]

Hi, I'm new here and have a question.I started noticing some bare spots in my Crimson Queen Japanese Maple this spring. I'm trying to figure out if this is normal or if I have an issue. This is a large specimen and looks to have been here for many years. I've lived here for 4 years and have never pruned it out of fear that I might do something wrong. I have done some reading and am hoping it's not verticillium wilt. Any ideas?

I may be wrong but that looks like powdery mildew to me.

 

[Beth_B]

If it's mildew, would pruning the tree help by giving it more room to breathe? It looks very dense. Not sure if you can even prune it this time of year.

 

[Michelle25]

Thanks for your replies. We have had tons and tons of rain this spring. More so than usual. It has gotten a lot of water. It has been raining about every two days, good soaking rains. Almost flooded during a few hard rains over the past month.

 

[Beth_B]

That might be a cause for mildew, then. I'm in mid Michigan and we've had a ton of rain this past month.

 

[DrCase]

I would cut out the dead wood . ... Then lay under it with some pruners and unwind it a little bit