Hello,
New to this message board but have seen some great posts already. I have an issue that I'm desperate to solve:
I planted a young tamukeyama Japanese Maple in my garden 3 years ago, located in Pittsburgh PA. I have fertilized, staked and watered to the best of my knowledge and have watched it grow over the years. It is certainly my prized possession in our small garden, and sadly it appears a small white pest - Mealy bug (from what I can tell based on pictures) - has infected the trunk and limbs.
I never had any issues in years past, as the tree has been healthy and growing, but this week I realized that only the bottom few branches were getting new leaves. The upper branches (majority of the tree) were dead and snap off easily.
There were only a few visible mealy bugs when I noticed the damaged trunk, which I killed/removed and sprayed the trunk with an insecticidal soap. However, I'm wondering what my next move should be: Will the tree ever rebound? Do I need to cut it back? If so; then how? In a worst case scenario, can I salvage the healthy parts of the tree and re-root/plant?
I love gardening but this is all fairly new to me, but I love this tree and hope that someone can offer some guidance. I have several photos but it appears I can only upload one - let me know if I can post the rest.
Thanks in advance.
