URGENT HELP needed with sick japanese maple tree!

[Mizjazzi]

1 of 3 branches, the largest, turned dark green(blackish) and the leaves are not opening properly on that branch!
The strange thing is that there are healthy green smaller branches coming off that, and those are ok, but not as far along as the others!. I think though that it is speading and wonder if I should cut that branch off.
Is it a bacteria?
It is about 5 years old, and this is a new thing.I only noticed this a few weeks ago, but as there were no leaves coming out yet, just thought that it was changing colour 'cause that was the oldest branch!?
I have quite a few maples and am really worried that they could be infected.
I have attached photo's,but am not sure if they will be any good,as i can only see 1 in the post, and can't seem to delete them.?

Please help!

[Glutton4...]

Take a very sharp knife, and make a small slit just through the bark into the wood, on the 'sick' branch. Just a small flap, that you can peek under, and push back down again. If there us any green under the bark, the branch is alive. But, it looks to me, like that branch is dying. If there is no green, it is almost certainly dead, and I would advise removing the whole branch, back to the main stem. It is probably frost damage.

Unfortunately, it looks like a multi-stem tree, so removal is more complicated, as the join is at ground level, and any die-back may kill the whole tree anyway.

Hopefully someone with more tree knowledge than me will be along soon. Good luck with it!

[Two_Sheds]

Acer's aren't very hardy, all but one of mine have died over the last three harsh winters. They also hate wind

[Mizjazzi]

Acer's aren't very hardy, all but one of mine have died over the last three harsh winters. They also hate wind

Thanks for the quick replies guys,

That Maple seems to have coped in 2 windy gardens for years, and my yellow and red ones are fine in their pots,even after the prolonged -13% here in Scotland. So I will chop off that branch, seal it up, and stake the remaining 2 stems! ,as that one is in a very windy pat of the garden though.
It is a bit wierd that some of the branches off it are green and the leaves are fine on those!
I will hold thumbs for no further spread of whatever it is.


Regards and happy gardening.

[Mizjazzi]

Hi there,
Took off the branch anyway and sealed it.
Now I have a twin trunk,but it looks healthy, so we will wait and see.
The branch was dead in places, and had to go.
Thanks again.
Mizjazzi