I have a red maple in my backyard. I have had no problems with it for five years. This year it sprouted buds but no leaves and I'm concerned it might be dead.

Its planted in the exact spot that I lost a Catalpa tree many years ago.

Can you give me any advice.

Thank you.

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When you snap off or cut off a branch is it "live" wood or "dead" wood?

You can also scratch the bark and into the core of the tree - but that's an avenue to disease.

My red maple tree seems to be dying-It has been fine for 5 years-it budded about three weeks ago but now the buds have not opened. I lost a Catalpa tree in the same spot years ago.

Should you not plant trees in the same spot after a previous tree has already been lost in that spot?

Is there anything I can do to try to save this red maple? The branches are brittle.

I live in Colorado.

Thank you for your assistance.

Please stop opening new threads - I'm a Master Gardener in NY and I answered this yesterday (in part).

There is no way to know if it's a good or bad idea to plant in the same spot unless/until you know why the first tree died.
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Any severe freezes after budding this year?

Catalpa trees are pretty hardy although somewhat short lived, some people call them weed trees. If it died, and now a maple, I would have a soil test done to see if there is some contamination.

Yes, we had some spring snow storms in Colorado this year with low temperatures.

I'm reading that your concern is the red maple. Maples are hardy trees. I'd be very surprised if a tree that is more than a year or two "old" died due to cold weather.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

I'm reading that your concern is the red maple. Maples are hardy trees. I'd be very surprised if a tree that is more than a year or two "old" died due to cold weather.

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Didn't mean die, but what about no growth for this year?

Just for mystery, last summer two mature cherry trees side by side, one dropped all it's leaves mid summer and the other didn't. Both are fine this year.
Not a clue why.
I had many frozen buds on other plants this spring due to late freezes, but new buds appeared in different spots.