I have a crimson king maple that is over 30 yrs old. This summer the tree began to lose the tips of branches with 3 - 5 leaves. The leaves are not discolored and are not dry. The loss is not due to storm damage. Also individual leaves are falling --- usually the tree loses leaves in the fall very late in the season. I don't see any pests. The only other time the tree lost tips of branches was a couple of years ago when we had the 17 year locusts (cicadas) but that was in 2007. What can be the problem? Is this serious for a 30+ year old tree? Should I do something now or wait until spring to see if there is a continued problem?

Greetings Marsha:

Seeing that identifying tree health concerns over the internet is extremely difficult, might I suggest the following options:

1) Take some high-quality digital pictures of the affected tree and the tree's surroundings.

2) Contact your local U of I Extension office and see if they can assist you [it may be the twig pruner beetle]. Bring in some affected twigs to your UI Extenison office to see if they can isolate anything that you may have missed.

3) Contact a certified arborist to see if they can help you identify the problem -- an on-site inspection is almost always necessary, especially if you cannot identify any obvious pests that may be injuring your tree.

Twig Pruner & Twig Girdler: http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=g7276

Best of luck!