Question
Hello,

This spring my tree did not bloom entirely. Only one half of the tree had leaves. The other side is entirely bare. We've noticed a large number of spiderwebs around and in between the branches and on some of the leaves. Some of the leaves are starting to turn brown which is kind of early for late summer and now the bark is starting to peel. I live in Maryland and the tree seemed fine thru the fall and winter of last year. Could there be some type of disease or infestation and if so how do we cure it?

Answer
Sounds like spider mites.
Spider mites have tiny mouthparts modified for piercing individual plant cells and removing the contents. This results in tiny yellow or white speckles. When many of these feeding spots occur near each other, the foliage takes on a yellow or bronzed cast. Once the foliage of a plant becomes bronzed, it often drops prematurely.

Heavily infested plants may be discolored, stunted or even killed. Web producing spider mites may coat the foliage with the fine silk which collects dust and looks dirty.

Spray the foliage with a miticide making sure you wet both sides of the leaves. Miticides Spider mites are usually not killed by regular insecticides, so be sure to check the pesticide label to see if "miticide" is present. Pesticides claiming "for mite suppression" are usually weak miticides and will not perform well. There are few products available to the homeowner. Dicofol (=Kelthane) is registered for over-the-counter use but is difficult to find. Acephate (=Orthene), dimethoate (=Cygon), chlorpyrifos (=Dursban), diazinon, disulfoton (=Di-syston), and malathion have over-the-counter product labels but are considered weak miticides.