Black spots on Maple entire branches look dead - pics

12 years ago

We have a Celebration Maple that is 3 years old - about a week ago it looked like an entire lower branches was dying, now another branch is starting. As I look closer, I notice this black spot on the leaves. We are having allour ornamental trees and shrubs sprayed this year (since spring) as we've lost a couple pines to disease so I would have thought this would not happen. What is causing this and how can I cure it?? See pics below:
{{gwi:430063}}From September 5, 2011
{{gwi:430065}}From September 5, 2011
{{gwi:430067}}From September 5, 2011
{{gwi:430069}}From September 5, 2011

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Comments (10)

brandon7 TN_zone7
12 years ago
Looks like tar spots (a fungal disease), possibly mixed with a little sooty mold. Can't see much in those small pics. Google these and see what you think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tar Spots
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
need bigger pix ...

i dont understand why its the leaf.. but not the veins ..

regardless.. the leaves will fall off in a month...

its been a bad year.. i recommend NOTHING be done

a lot of stuff.. on my 5 acres.. with a very cold may ... an EXTREMELY hot [near 100] 6 weeks of summer.. and another one week burst of blistering temps.. have lead to many.. MANY things ..... to be off color ...

ken

ps: any pit fire under the tree????
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thanks all. Upon further inspection in indoor light (it so happens I had to move plants indoors, then up to roof, while balcony floor is redone), it looks like more branches are brown than I recall in the past....I seem to recall that all branches were usually green...that it was just the trunk that could be brown in parts. Also, in the past my potted maples were kept on top of the ground...during the time I had a dirt yard. It's only been the past three years that I now live in an apartment with no yard...but rather, an elevated (3rd floor) balcony. I learned only recently that elevated balconies create additional concerns because cold winds can affect the pots not only from the top and sides, but from the bottom as well (since the bottom of the pot doesn't have the benefit of the warmer earth underneath it). So....perhaps as long as I continue to live with an elevated balcony, I can't have maples. I also recently searched online, and it seems most maples are only hardy to Zone 5? I saw none that were hardy to Zone 4 or below, and considering I am in Zone 6, I know that my POTTED plants must be hardy to at least Zone 4, and perhaps even Zone 3 due to my plants being on an elevated balcony
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I doubt that tar spot will "go away by next season". Generally, once your area's got it, it stays put. I live one hundred miles north of Milwaukee and used to only see tar spot when visiting that city or points further south. In the last few years, tar spot fungus has made it to our neck of the woods and is now an annual occurrence. Maybe he meant that the fungicide treatments would have it vanquished by next year but that too is doubtful, there being so many other maple trees around, each one contributing to the furtherance of this minor pathogen. And it really is minor, the worst thing about it being the way it tends to ruin fall color on afflicted trees. Other than that, no biggie. Branches dead or dying in a tree's crown (upper portion) typically indicate root damage. Most likely, this will right itself over time as the root system regenerates. I'd resist the urge to "do something about it", most of the work that can be done needing to be done by the tree itself. +oM
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jillb
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the responses - if you click on the pic they actually enlarge. I did a google search and thought it looked like that fungal disease (tar spots) - will the tree just drop its leaves early and rebound next year?
pbl_ge
12 years ago
How did I miss this post when I wrote about the same issue? I went straight to the search option, and I don't think this came up. Weird.

Good luck to us both--and happy raking!
brandon7 TN_zone7
12 years ago
"if you click on the pic they actually enlarge"

You'd think so, but it doesn't work for me. Could be something on my end, but I get a message from Picasa that says, "Sorry, that page was not found" and it's the same for all four pictures.
brandon7 TN_zone7
12 years ago
"I went straight to the search option, and I don't think this came up. Weird."

Posts on GW are only searchable after they are archived overnight. Posts from the same day can't be searched through the search tool.
jillb
Original Author
12 years ago
Ken - funny you say that about a fire pit - no on that but...I did hang some votive candles on the two branches that are affected about 2-3 weeks ago, they were maybe 6" at most from the branch (probably closer). The leaves did not appear to begin to discolor until early this week and by this weekend the first branch affected has leaves totally darkened and brown and now the second branch is starting - both are the lowest branches of tree and were the only ones with the votives.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
bingo bango ... i was going to further suggest.. the barbie ... lol ...

what struck me.. is that it was in a pattern ... generally.. leaf disease.. is NOT going to attack a single limb ... it will be more generalized over the whole tree ...

let me further guess... it was a 100 degree day.. and a balmy evening.. and you decided to basically hang fire in your tree ... ROTFLMBO ... the leaves were probably already stressed.. and you just took them over the edge..

anyway.. they will fall off in a few weeks... maybe .... there is some branch damage.. but we will not know that until it buds out in spring ...

i wouldnt worry too much about it ... its a maple.. you could cut it off at ground level.. and it will be as big next year ....

good luck
ken
arktrees
12 years ago
I think I would be looking for signs of cankers (sunken area's on the branch or trunk), also might be a borer. IMHO remove the limb with pruners sanitize with 90% isopropanol (rubbing alcohol), and look for discoloration under the bark as well. Also I have to wonder if anything was hung off these branches at some point? Or perhaps kids pulling and tugging on them? These things can destroy the vascular system, and not show up for a while.

Still I've had more disease problems this year than ever before, and would not be surprised if that was the case there as well.

Arktrees
brandon7 TN_zone7
12 years ago
This tree definitely has tar spot disease. The cause of the further problem with the lower two branches is less certain. If removing these branches won't hurt the form of the tree, or the branches are determined to be dead, I would remove them completely.

Black spots on Maple entire branches look dead - pics

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brandon7 TN_zone7

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Black spots on Maple entire branches look dead - pics

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