What is wrong with my tree?

Got a large “snake skin” acer and it isn’t looking very well.

Recently the bark on some of the limbs has discoloured and split, and now the affected branches are losing leaves.

Going to prune out the bad bits at the weekend, but in the meantime has anybody got any ideas what is happening?

Dr Google hasn’t helped so far.

Acers don’t like wind, apparently.

So first question… Is it in a windy location?

Not especially. Been there for at least 15 years, probably many more.

Hold fire on pruning the dead out. Acers seem to turn off the branches that have leaves that are too shaded to function correctly, however it seems that when you prune a dead branch out another one will die. Its almost as if the tree is reabsorbing the nutrients in the limb. It looks like quite a shady spot for an acer.

From this distance, the symptoms are indicative of Verticillium Wilt. Is the necrotic bark distributed throught the canopy?

Just seems to affecting one limb. Starting at the bottom and creeping up. The dead leaves are very recent.

I can’t offer any help, but my Acer, which I grew from a tiny 9cm pot over around 10 years, did the same last year. Eventually all the bottom branches died off and I pruned them back to the main stem. The top half seems fine. But just like yours it almost looks like the main stem is splitting. It’s still alive but looks poorly. Shame as it was really beautiful. I’ve got another one to kill now.

As mentioned elsewhere, possibly a fungal infection by Steganosporium ovatum.

Mine did the same last summer, and half of it died and broke off, the other half isn’t looking much better.

Ok. Great :-/

Going to cut away the infected limbs at the weekend and see how the rest of it does.

Are you sure that is an acer? branch location and leaves look wrong to me/

Acer Davidii.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/acer-davidii/