What's wrong with the maple trees? They look dead, and their bare branches are covered in brownish "spinner" seeds instead of leaves.
Worried homeowners across the state are calling their local OSU agriculture extension offices wanting to know why their maple trees suddenly appear dead, wrote Geauga County's OSU Extension educator Eric Draper in a recent article for the Buckeye Yard and Garden Line, an email newsletter of horticultural news and information.
Callers ask if the heavy seed production is a sign of a stressed, dying tree, Draper said, or if it forecasts an extra-cold winter.
Neither theory is correct. Blame those extra seeds on a too-warm spring.
Davey Tree Expert Co. district manager Scott Heim explained the phenomenon this way:
Every spring, maple trees produce small flowers that turn into seeds. Normally, a cold frost kills some blossoms, but this year the usual chill didn't arrive at the right time. More blossoms than usual turned to seed.
Maples, which had a limited amount of stored energy at the end of winter, weren't able to produce both seeds and leaves. The trees opted for seeds over leaves, leaving some branches bare as other trees leafed out.
By late June or early July, your maple should look like its normal, leafy self, Heim said. Davey Tree is headquartered in Kent.
Area maples produced about 50% more seeds this spring than last year, Heim estimated. All maples, especially the silver and red varieties, have been affected, he said.
Extra doses of fertilizer or water aren't necessary, Heim said. Homeowners who still have concerns about a tree's health should contact an arborist, or tree specialist, for an evaluation, he said.
Maple seeds are familiar for their two small "wings" that allow them to spiral downward and float on the breeze; that's why they are also called whirlibirds or helicopters.
This year's bumper crop of seeds has anyone within half a block of a maple grabbing a broom or leaf-blower to cope with drifting seeds on sidewalks or other paved surfaces, or cleaning them from gutters, downspouts and storm drains.
Maple seedlings will try to establish themselves in garden beds or ground cover; don't let them.
Watch for seedlings growing in problematic locations such as inside hedges, along fences, next to a home's foundation or deck, through a cement crack or too close to other trees. Yank up the inconvenient upstarts as soon as you see them.
Seedlings are harder to pull up once their roots are more than a few inches long. Pot unwanted seedlings and give them away to friends and family members.
If you find seedlings from past seasons that can't be pulled up, clip stems as close to the ground as possible and check later in the season to see if the tree is attempting to grow back.
As we deal with the extra work created by our overly exuberant maples, let it be a reminder of the delicate interconnections between environment and plants.
"This year just happened to be one that favored maple seed development," Draper wrote. "(Heavy seed production) just means that we need some well-timed freezes to reduce the seed numbers, or hope for a really strong wind to blow them all into the neighbors' yards!"