Help...I planted 2 crimson king maples in my backyard and they did great for about 2 weeks. The leaves are a green color with hints of red towards the edges. after 2 weeks I began seeing spots in the middle of the leaves that seemed to be dying...they would turn reddish yellow and then die and crumble. The bark of the tree looks healthy and the branches remain limber, but leaves continue to die off. The best I can describe is it looks like my tree is sunburning...but i am not sure. Is there a disease that causes this. Also my male dog likes to spray his business all over the bottom of the tree....will this effect them???

Greetings Jenny:

Tree pest/disease questions are likened to calling your medical professional and asking him/her what is ailing you -- the most common answer you are going to hear is that you need to come in for a doctors appointment (i.e., you need to have a professional arborist/forester/horticulturalist examine your tree on-site).

More than likely, your tree is just going through "transplanting shock". Transplanting shock commonly occurs during the first couple years of tree planting -- new tree, reduced root system, temperature and moisture extremes, etc. You need to monitor the soil moisture around your newly planted tree -- too much water is just as bad as too little water!

Too much urine from your dog can significantly affect the soil pH around this newly planted tree -- I strongly recommend that you encourage your dog to conduct his business elsewhere in the yard :-)