Silver maple peeling bark

Question

Should i do anything. This tree is growing real fast . Just noticed peeling in spring. i thought it might just be shedding but no new bark as of this fall.

Answer 1

Mature silver maples naturally shed their bark. It will create healthy bark underneath.

Read this article; San Francisco Gate Article - Silver Maple Bark

Answer 2

Looks like "sun scald" ; strong/hot sun hitting the bark in spring when there are no leaves to shade it . Mostly on the south side of the tree ( northern hemisphere). Temporarily shade the bark with burlap or equal. Not a problem for older trees with thicker bark ( insulation). I also suggest covering the exposed roots with mulch.

Answer 3

Seems to be getting worse. I will wrap with burlap. Anythjng else i can do. Looks bad. I added some new pictures, bottom 5 pics.

Looks like it is shedding, but i understand it will not regenetate new bark?

Answer 4

There is a similar question and answers here that you might find instructive. In the photos of the other question, note that some of the bare areas have vertical cracks. This indicates that the bare areas are drying out, carrying no sap at the surface and having no conductive tissues there. Examine your bare areas to see if there are cracks, the point being to determine if there is live tissue there or not. As bark becomes loose pull it off to reveal whether there is a point at which surface callus tissue is trying to envelop the bare patches.

The patches of flaking bark are quite large for a small tree which indicates that something is fundamentally wrong. The trees appear to be municipal street trees; if so you might enlist the local parks staff in diagnosing the issue. At first glance to me it reminds me of trees planted in very shallow soil over a thick layer of bedrock or other impermeable matter that cannot sustain a large tree. They start off well, spreading sideways, but then run out of steam when the roots cannot support the canopy. Silver maple might be too ambitious a project for that location; this kind of maple, while it does grow rapidly at first, is frowned on in many places as a street tree since it breaks easily when mature and has a greedy, damaging root system.