Why Are My Tree’s Leaves Turning Black?

Don’t let your tree die when its leaves start turning black. Knowing what causes leaves to turn black and drop can help you spring into action, saving your tree and protecting your landscape.

fasttreeremovalatlanta.com gathered the information why, and steps to take when your tree’s leaves start turning black and falling off your tree.

Why Do Tree Leaves Turn Black?

There are many reasons your tree’s leaves can turn black and fall off the tree. The following are some of the more probable causes:

Hot Weather and Drought – During times of drought, trees are more susceptible to being damaged by radical changes in temperature.

Sudden rises in temperature can leach the moisture out of your trees and cause its leaves to wither, brown, and blacken.

While it isn’t feasible to control the weather, you can help your trees survive radical temperature fluctuations by doing the following:

• Increase the frequency of deep watering
• Decrease the amount of fertilizer applied
• Mulch your trees

During times of drought coupled with high temperatures, your tree’s internal processes speed up. Over-fertilizing may cause your trees to consume more nutrients than they can process, causing fertilizer burn and hastening their death.

Learn more about how to fertilize trees by reading fasttreeremovalatlanta.com/fertilization-basics-healthier-trees

Boring Insect Infestations – When trees are stressed by hot weather, disease, or poor care practices, they become highly susceptible to successful insect attacks. Namely, beetle attacks.

Beetle infestations often result in leaf wilt, severe defoliation, and the blackening of the leaves. When a tree or stand of trees falls victim to a beetle infestation, treatment must begin immediately to slow or halt an infestation of epidemic proportions.

Some of the signs of a successful beetle infestation include:

• Unseasonal leaf color change
• Premature leaf drop
• Crown wilting
• Blackening of the foliage
• Entry holes
• Sawdust found on limbs and trunk

Infested trees are challenging to treat without killing the tree itself, and should be left to a tree professional. However, unaffected trees in the vicinity should be treated with insecticides to deter beetle attacks.

Ash trees are highly vulnerable to the deadly emerald ash borer. However, when their foliage blackens, it is more likely from an anthracnose infection than the borer.

NOTE: It is common practice to remove and destroy heavily beetle-infested trees to protect a wooded area or stand of healthy trees. In some instances, uninfected diseased trees that have become susceptible to beetle infestations may also be removed to prevent the spread of the beetle.

The ambrosia beetle is another boring insect that affects many tree species throughout North America. Learn more about the damage it causes and how to treat an infestation by reading fasttreeremovalatlanta.com/ambrosia-beetle-damage-treatment

Anthracnose Tree Disease – This disease is often referred to as leaf spot or leaf blight. It may be caused by several different fungi. The following are some of the common symptoms indicating that your tree is infected:

• Irregular dead spots on leaves
• Formation of cankers on twigs, branches, and the trunk
• Wilting and blackening of affected foliage
• Premature leaf drop
• Bud death (resembling frost damage)

Treatment for anthracnose includes the systematic application of fungicides in late winter and early spring, and the extensive pruning of affected areas of the tree.

Diseases like anthracnose are easily transmitted from one tree to another, usually by splashing water, overhead watering, and rainwater. Another common form of transmission is through the gardening and pruning tools used for your landscaping. Read about disease prevention tips at fasttreeremovalatlanta.com/5-tree-shrub-disease-prevention-tips

NOTE: Any time more than 25% of a tree’s crown must be pruned, call in a professional tree service to evaluate the health of the tree and potential alternatives to pruning.

Anthracnose is rarely lethal to mature trees. Still, repeated annual infections can cause the decline of the tree’s health, leading to infestations, disease, and the eventual death of the tree.

For more information on identifying and managing anthracnose, visit ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7420.html

Tree Health and Disease Prevention

There are insecticides, fertilizers, and fungicides that can be applied throughout the year to protect your trees. However, the most effective measure to take in preventing your trees from withering in the heat, succumbing to boring insects, or contracting lethal diseases is to promote their health relentlessly.

The following are measures you can take to promote the healthy growth of your trees:

• Conduct annual soil tests to determine nutrient deficiencies and pH adjustments
• Adjust your watering schedule to keep the soil moist but well-drained
• Maintain organic mulch over the root plate throughout the year
• Correctly prune your trees to encourage spring growth
• Have your trees and landscape inspected annually by a professional tree service to detect any potential issues.

Your vigilance in keeping your trees healthy is perhaps their greatest ally in reaching maturity and living their lives pest and disease-free.

When Tree Leaves Turn Black

In this article, you discovered why tree leaves can turn black, and the steps you can take to help your tree recover and prevent future occurrences.

When problems arise, and they will, your immediate response is fundamental to the preservation of a robust landscape filled with healthy trees.

Your inaction or indifference will result in the decline of your tree’s health, its eventual death, and the potential to fall on your property or cause severe injuries.

Sources:
extension.psu.edu/anthracnose-on-shade-trees
entomology.ca.uky.edu/ent43
ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/treeborerscard.html

Fast Tree Removal Services Atlanta

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(404) 220-9965

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Ambrosia Beetle Damage and Treatment

An ambrosia beetle infestation can cause catastrophic damages and the death of your trees if it goes without treatment.

Once an ambrosia beetle infestation is detected, professional treatment should begin immediately as well as steps to prevent spreading.

In this fasttreeremovalatlanta.com article, you will learn how this insect damages trees, discover how to identify an ambrosia beetle infestation, treat it, and prevent them from spreading to other trees.

Identifying an Ambrosia Beetle Infestation

For the mid-Atlantic and southern states, the concerning species of the ambrosia beetle (native to southeast Asia) is the granulate ambrosia beetle, (Xylosandrus Crassiusculus).

Common host tree species for this pest include crape myrtles, magnolias, oaks, willows, peach, plum, cherry, Japanese maples, ash, dogwood, beech, birch, and many other species can support the ambrosia beetle and the ambrosia fungus.

Besides identifying the beetle itself (pictured above), here are a few of the signs to help you positively identify an ambrosia beetle infestation:

• Wilting of foliage on terminal ends of branches and twigs.
• Terminal dieback.
• Entry holes on the affected trunk, branch, or twig.
• Blackening of the tissue surrounding the entry hole or of the “pith” which is the nutrient-rich tissue beneath the xylem and phloem in branches, twigs, and stems.
• Sawdust “toothpicks” will protrude from the hole being bored into the tree.

Watch this video to see the signs of an ambrosia beetle infestation.

Other boring insects will display some of the same signs. Regardless of the species that is attacking your trees, the damage they cause is insurmountable, and action must be taken to halt the infestation.

Ambrosia Beetle Tree Damage

An ambrosia beetle infestation is a bit different from other beetle infestations. Whereas most beetles bore into the tree and stay just under the bark to feed on the xylem and phloem, ambrosia beetles burrow deep into the tree’s heartwood.

Once in the heartwood, the beetle creates a chamber or “gallery,” lays its eggs and releases spores of the ambrosia fungi, which lives on (in a symbiotic manner) and is transported by the ambrosia beetle.

As the fungus grows within the tree, it serves as food for the hatching larvae. And as it spreads, it blackens the pith tissue of the host while invading and feeding off of the tree’s nutrient-rich xylem and phloem.

To further understand the symbiotic relationship between fungi and beetles, watch this video.

Tree boring insects like the ambrosia beetle are able to inflict tremendous damage to trees in all growth and health stages. However, the healthier a tree is, the less likely it will be infested.

Ambrosia Beetle Infestation Treatment

Part of any infestation treatment is the awareness of the problem. Once confirmed, advise your neighbors and any community groups of the situation. Offer to educate them and follow up by recommending the following:

1 – The use of insecticides on infested trees will result in little to no control of the infestation. However, the same insecticides will help keep unaffected trees from being attacked.

2 – Prune back and destroy all affected areas of the tree. If more than 20% of the crown will be lost, seek professional assistance.

In these cases, the tree may become more stressed, inviting further infestation and disease. Removal of the tree may be required to eliminate the infestation altogether.

3 – Severe infestations in which the trunk of the affected tree has many entry points may require the removal of the tree. As mentioned earlier, insecticides provide little to no results on an already infested tree.

4 – Extreme caution should be exercised when using fungicides and herbicides around trees infested by boring insects. In attempting to curb the growth of fungi, the exposed xylem and phloem may carry these chemicals throughout the tree and kill it.

5 – Don’t go it alone. Seek the assistance of a tree professional or arborist, they will be able to guide you through treatments and offer advice based on their knowledge and experience.

Tree Boring Insect Prevention

Preventing infestations begins with the proper and regular maintenance of your trees to keep them healthy.

Ambrosia beetles are less likely to attack healthy trees, instead will attack weakened, dying, or even dead trees with sufficient moisture for their symbiotic fungal growth.

Besides tree health, bark insecticidal sprays are the only other practical way to protect trees from being attacked.

Professional Tree Service and Infestation Prevention

Now that you know how to identify the signs of an ambrosia beetle infestation, the potential devastation they can inflict, and how to prevent or treat an outbreak, you should be prepared when the time comes.

Early identification of an infestation is crucial in halting irreversible damage to your trees. As stated above, the removal and disposal of affected limbs or the entire tree is the only truly effective treatment. Prevention is ultimately a question of the tree’s health and using insecticides before an infestation begins.

By not taking measures to halt an infestation or prevent one from attacking your trees, the risk of that tree weakening, becoming further stressed and eventually dying is significantly increased. Trees in this weakened state are more likely to topple, potentially causing catastrophic damages or even death. Your best course of action would be to call on a professional tree service to evaluate the situation and help you through it.

Sources:

http://www.gatrees.org/community-forests/ask-the-arborist/AmbrosiaBeetlesinUrbanTrees.pdf
https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/ambrosia-beetles-trees-and-shrubs
https://www.clemson.edu/extension/publications/entomology/turf-ornamental/ambrosia-beetles-to22.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosia_beetle
https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/tropical-entomology/factsheets/ambrosia_beetles.shtml

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Fast Tree Removal Services Atlanta

3379 Peachtree Road #555a, Atlanta, GA 30326
(404) 220-9965

To view the orignal version of this post, visit: http://www.fasttreeremovalatlanta.com/ambrosia-beetle-damage-treatment