A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Silver Maple Question

We have a large silver maple in our front yard. I love this tree. Last year and this year I noticed it gets green bumps on the leaves. It's not really full of leaves this year, but it doesn't look sickly at all. Am I supposed to feed it? If so, what and when. Also, it has patches of a greenish areas on the trunk. I've noticed lots of trees in our neighborhood - no variety in particular - has this greenish thing on the trunks.

We have lots of trees on our property and I don't want to lose any of them - what's the proper way to take care of them?

I live in zone 5.


Thanks!

Laura

Hello, Laura. I think I have good news for you but be aware that I am obviously guessing from your comments:

1. The bumps are nothing more than a combination of cosmetic swellings from an early spring & the feeding of an eriophyid mite. The bumps themselves are referred to as maple bladder galls. They start green, turn pink/red and then black. It does not harm the tree so no treatment is necessary. By the way, this also happens on red maples.

2. The green on the bark could be lichen, moss or algae which do not necessarily harm the trees either. It could be caused by lots of rainfall, humidity where you live, irrigation sprayed on the trunks and/or not enough sun hitting those parts of the trunks.

I hope this helps,
Luis

yeah, no worries

<Phew> Thanks for your replies! Like I said, I love this tree and it would kill me if I had to get rid of it!


Laura