My first post here, but very worried over two Japanese Maples I have. Small limbs and twigs are dead with no leaves except for a few, which are curling and shriveling. The biggest dead limb (not green with fingernail scrape of bark), is a bit bigger than my thumb and is close to five feet long. I am not a gardening person at all and have no idea what is happening much less what to do. There are enough dead branches where I think cutting them all out might permanently affect the appearance of the tree and not in a good way. The trees were planted at the end of 2001 and were much smaller then.

Any guidance on what to do is most welcome.

Please see photos of the two sick trees and the two other healthy Japanese Maple shrubs at this link.

http://photobucket.com/japanese_maples

Thanks.

Phil

San Ramon, CA

(~ 20 miles due east of San Francisco as crow flies).

Image link: