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Leaf Spot Diseases And Your Trees: Dealing With The Spots

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Shade trees can turn most homes' backyards into a great place to hang out. Unfortunately, shade trees are susceptible to a number of problems, including leaf spot diseases. The diseases eat away at the leaves and can destroy a tree that was once beautiful. Diagnosis and immediate treatment of the trees are important to saving the tree.

What Are the Symptoms of Leaf Spot Diseases?

The most obvious sign that your trees are suffering from a leaf spot disease is the spots that appear on the leaves. The spots can appear to look like tiny bits of tar or could be brown splotches. The appearance of the spots depends largely on the type of disease from which your trees are suffering.

Another sign that you might notice is the yellowing of the leaves on the tree. The leaves can even fall off prematurely and take longer to grow back.

What Happens With the Diseases?

In some instances, when the leaves fall off the tree, the impact of the disease on the tree might be over. However, this does not always happen. Depending on the disease, it could possibly continue to live once the leaves have fallen on the ground. When this happens, the wind can help carry the disease from the leaves on the ground to newly emerging leaves.

When your trees are watered or there is a lot of rainfall and ice, the disease can also be spread. Unfortunately, you could be dealing with leaf spot diseases for years or until the tree reaches the point at which it must be cut down.

What Can You Do?

Your options for dealing with the leaf spot diseases depends on whether or not the problem recurs and how severe it is. If the problem is limited to only a couple of years, a tree pro, such as The Arborist, might not recommend action. This occurs when the leaves that have fallen did not impact the new leaves.

If the problem is ongoing or you want to cut the possibility that the problem keeps recurring, your tree pro can remove diseased leaves and twigs that are infected. Trimming and removing the infected parts helps to eliminate the possibility a disease returns.

Another option is to work to keep your trees dry as possibly. Even though this can prove difficult, you can limit moisture to your trees. Avoid using techniques such as overhead watering.

The best way to handle leaf spot diseases is to have your trees regularly serviced by a pro. The pro can identify and start to treat the problem before it gets out of hand.

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