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brigite22

Something is wrong with my Japanese Maple!

brigite22
9 years ago

About a month and a half ago, I purchased a small Japanese Maple tree (the Bloodgood variety) and planted it in my yard. It is a very young tree, only measuring about 5 feet tall. It seemed to be doing well and was sprouting leaves like crazy. Unfortunately, I recently noticed quite a bit of damage to the leaves as well as a lot of little green worms. After speaking with my local nursery, they informed me that these were winter moth caterpillars, which have been very problematic in my area this spring. At the advice of the nursery, I purchased Captain Jack's Deadbug and sprayed the tree thoroughly that evening. Within a couple of days, all the caterpillars were gone, however the tree starting getting droopy/floppy and has progressively worsened since. It looks like my tree should be a weeping variety as almost all the branches now point downward. After doing some reading online, it appears that maples are sensitive to Spinosad, which is the active ingredient in the Deadbug spray. Have I killed my tree? Is there anything I can do to save it?

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