Dogwood Tree Leaf Disease

The dogwood borer is the major pest of dogwood.

Dogwood tree leaf disease. An especially harmful version of this diseaseis called anthracnose which attacks many tree species including dogwood and sycamore. Dogwood blight also known as dogwood anthracnose for the fungal pathogen that causes the disease is a fairly new problem. Warm dry weather will curtail the disease. Many are sick and others have died.

It is about 3 8 inch long blue black with two yellow bands around the abdomen and resembles a wasp. According to several tree experts. There are any number of diseases and pests that can stress your dogwood and cause dogwood leaf drop. This disease occurs only if weather conditions are very wet and humid in the spring.

When leaves are falling off dogwood in summer it could mean a serious illness improper siting or cultivation problems. The dogwood trees are flowering now but not every owner can look on them with pride this spring. The anthracnose disease affects flowering varieties of dogwoods like the pacific dogwood. This disease is caused by the fungus elsinoe corni one of the most common leaf diseases of flowering dogwoods.

Updated november 29 2017 leaf infections called leafspots are caused by a variety of fungi and some bacteria on many trees. The canker slowly girdles the tree. This disease propagates quickly in cool slightly wet conditions that are associated with the late spring and fall season. The initial symptoms appear as medium to large purple bordered leaf spots and scorched tan blotches.

Fungi are the main causes of dogwood tree diseases. Positive identification usually requires laboratory diagnosis. It is caused by the discula fungus. The infection is manifested in the form of leaf spots and stem cankers.

Leaves are smaller than normal light green and exhibit premature fall leaf coloration. Symptoms are small inch tan spots with reddish purple borders. Twigs and large branches die as a canker forms at the base of the tree. One of the very common diseases of dogwood trees is the dogwood anthracnose which is caused by the fungus discula sp.

The flower bracts are usually attacked first and then the leaves young shoots and fruit of dogwoods primarily during wet spring weather. Fungal diseases can ruin the look of the tree and in the worse cases the tree will not survive. It is believed to have started in the northeastern united states about 25 years ago but has been spreading southward ever since. The shoots are also killed in this disease.

The disease appears as small leaf spots surrounded by a purple border and or large tan spots on the leaf margins. Anthracnose disease spreads very quickly and it is critical to identify it during its nascent stage. The trees are in trouble. It most frequently attacks trees that are stressed or injured.