Sometimes an insect or fungus can attack the leaves inside the bud or just as it's opening. I see it on many species of weeds, shrubs and several trees on my lot. As later leaves come out, those are often OK.

when was the weed free lawn sprayed or treated... if so.. how .. spray?

ken

Thanks beng.

The condition seems to be continuing or even getting worse with a few inches of new growth, but you might be right about the fungus. I'll keep an eye on it.

ken,

No, there have been no sprays or chemicals used. I know it's hard to tell just by looking at the blurry backgrounds in my pictures but it's far from 'weed free', trust me. :-)

Thanks anyways.

I think the plant is dying.

I see a darkening and drooping of the leaf stems. I watered it this AM.

Some type of anthracnose?

Haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. The stem is a light olive green.

The only color I see is where the leaf stems meet the trunk, but I don't remember if it was like that last season. You can see where to one leaf stem turned black and shriveled.

It almost seemed worse after I watered it this morning.

I'm going to let it dry out for a while and see. It's barely a seedling from last year so not the end of the world or anything if it fails.

Well, if no one knows what it might be, I'm trying some fungicide on it for now. I quit watering and the damage seems to have slowed. Of course, growth has slowed too so it's hard to tell what's going on.

Looks like a covering of emerging fungal spores along the dying leaf-stem in your last pic. As tsuga said, these dogwoods can get stem cankers, but that would show up on the stem before the death of the leaves. I have problems of golden canker on my numerous seedlings/saplings (I planted one long ago and now there are many volunteer seedlings), but seems less a problem on ones in the open in sun.

This one is in full sun, as it was all last year.

it might be a goner already so all I can think of is the fungicide.

There are many of the curled leaves still showing probably a quarter to a third of the flat, top surface, along the center of the leaf, so the plant should still be photosynthesizing.

Failure is not an option but sometimes a reality. :-)

Thanks!

It looks like there will be no return on this one.

Fungicides had no effect. I clipped off the leaves and branch tips that looked sick as recommended by other sources, which was mostly all the leaves and branch tips and nothing sprouted at all. Makes me believe it's golden canker that has no known fungicide remedy.

Just for an experiment, I trimmed the branches back to the main trunk and dumped a strong dose of liquid fertilizer on it, just to see if it sprouts any new growth. What's to loose?

Stay tuned.

Pagoda dogwood is a good sprouter, should sprout unless roots are damaged.

If your state has an Extension Service would you use it to help diagnose the problem?

Thanks!

It's really not that big of a deal.

Golden canker is a known problem in my area, and it was just a small seedling I picked up among other things when visiting a nursery during my travels. It only cost me $4.

Last time I'll try pagoda dogwood here, it was a good idea at the time. 8^)

I took this picture beginning of the week after I pruned it down.

It looks the same today except it's turning brown now. Completely dead. No sign of life.

I see some sort of Aesculus, possibly hippocastanum, growing in public area a few blocks away. It produced seeds the last couple of years. If I see any this Fall, I'll collect a few and see if they will grow. Otherwise, I might think of something else, better suited to my small front yard and the planting spot that's only about 15 ft. away from my property line.

7-25-23

update:

nada, zero, zip.

:o/