Several maple trees on my street are dropping the tips of its branches. The tips appear to be healthy - and are full of green leaves. The amount of tips being dropped is numerous - not just one or two. When we clean up the yard of all these tips, within a few hours there are many more dropped. We've lived here for 11 years and this is the first time I've seen this. I would like to know why this is happening & if we should be doing something about it.
There are a couple of possible reasons for branch tip drop on your maple trees. Have you had a lot of cicadas in your area this year? As the female cicadas lay their eggs in small branches, the injury they cause may lead to branch tip drop or dieback. Another possible cause is squirrel feeding. Squirrels are attracted to the sweet sap that runs through maples, and sometimes gnaw on shoot tips.
