I don't know what is going on with gardenweb, but I haven't been able to post a response on here all day. A while ago I tried for the umpteenth time and the prior post is all that showed up. I am going to try this one last time and if it doesn't work, then I give up. *Ok, so my husband just figured out what the problem was. I mentioned Daves Garden in the post and Gardenweb saw that as my posting an ad for them. Here is my update on the trunk: Well, I have my answer. As dismal as it is, at least I know what is going on.We had our neighbor stop by, he's a tree farmer, and has a couple hundred acres of trees he sells. He asked me a lot of questions. I told him I bought this tree from an online nursery, and that when I received it, it had spots all over the leaves. It was not dormant when I got it, it was fully leafed out. I then called the nursery and said I think the tree has leaf spot, but the nursery told me it was not leaf spot, but instead it was their overhead watering, and that it wasn't a fungus or anything. It being my first tree I never questioned them for a minute. I found out the next year that it was in fact anthracnose and after that I picked up every single leaf it ever dropped in the fall and sprayed the tree before the buds opened in spring. I thought that would work and really never gave it another thought. Even yesterday the whole anthrascnose never entered my mind as a possibility. The tree has 4 cankers. He believes that the anthracnose never left the tree and eventually the cankers showed up. He said the best thing to do is to remove the tree and demand my money back from that nursery for selling me a tree that they knew had anthracnose. I actually had contacted them when I found out what it was, and they said they weren't aware of any problems with their trees, however, on their Dave's feedback someone was completely irate that their trees arrived with anthracnose. If I remember correctly he was livid that the nursery had not taken them off the website and not notified anyone about the anthracnose.. I am going off of memory as this was a few years ago but I remember it. Anyway, I'm not calling them and demanding my money back or a new tree. The tree cost us $30, we gave it the best start that we could, we loved it while we had it, and in the end this was all out of our hands in terms of this tree's future. Thank you for everyone's suggestions and advice.

Roger I have the same problem when spider mites are starting to attack my plants. You cannot see them with the naked eye when they 1st are populating the plant. Check the undersides of the leaves real good and tap them on a piece of paper. If you see small dots moving this is your problem. Also seen it from excessive sunlight. You might note the location of the affected plants vs the non affected ones. Your leaves are still green so you are on top of it before it becomes a problem. Jim

Leaves that start yellowing and are soft are most often water logged. The most important would be to give it good drainage - pot with drainage holes and very well draining mix. Mounding up the soil is not problem - it actually helps to direct excess water away, but in water retaining mix it helps just a little. Big pot + water-retaining mix = very big chance of rotting. After these are corrected, the plant will need lots of light.

I have the same problem: I did some research and think it may be bacterial leaf spot. I am not a professional, just a simple backyard gardener like you. I live in Florida. It has also killed over 3/4 of my bell peppers, along with the tomatoes. If you find out any info, contact me !!! What I read, that if it is bacterial leaf spot, there is no cure: pruning off dead leaves helps: but it will spread from plant to plant. Fungus splashes up from the soil, when you water, so keep splashes to a minimum. Julie Leahy at G. mail is where I can be reached.