It's that time of the year again. Two of our maple trees have turned color and started to drop leaves. The one on the right is the one I wrote about in my blog titled "Our Favorite Tree" back in 2006. I am so glad it is still alive, because in the summer of 2009, that tree somehow got sick. There were black mold everywhere, covering the branches, leaves and even the deck below. And there must be some kind of sweet substance in the mold, because it seemed to attract flies and the deck felt sticky when walking on it.
We immediately contacted a local tree service company. I still remember how shocked I was when I read their written estimate. In order to treat our 4 maple trees (1 sick tree plus 3 healthy trees just to prevent they get sick too) for two years (the report said multi-year treatment was necessary to treat tree diseases), they wanted to charge $2,400 and there is no guarantee that their treatment will cure the tree(s). I was like: Are you serious? If you don't even know if you can cure the tree(s), how can you ask for so much money?
So the company was out. We decided to treat the trees ourselves. We checked with a local nursery and researched online, it seemed that our maple tree got "scale", and "Bayer Advanced 12 Month Tree & Shrub Insect Control" can treat it. After two years and two treatment (in the spring before the leaves started to grow), the problem is gone, and the cost: $150.
