Anthracnose

Symptoms

 This disease will cause brown, dry, blotchy spots on the leaves and may cause the leaves to drop.  It can also be easily misdiagnosed as oak wilt.  Anthracnose attacks many plants early in the season.

What will happen to my landscape? Anthracnose will spread in wet and cool conditions to a variety of trees causing trees to become weak.  It can also cause the leaves to curl up along the veins and die.

What can I do about anthracnose?  Prune infected trees to get rid of diseased parts.  Disinfect your pruning tool in a bleach solution of one part household bleach to four parts water after each cut.  At the end of the growing season, carefully clean up and destroy all leaves that have dropped. Space plants far enough apart to allow for good air circulation.  A combination of cultural and chemical control is often required. Most local hardware stores carry fungicides that will control anthracnose. Because these sprays can cause injury to some plants, read the label thoroughly before using and apply according to the directions.  Depending on the severity of the damage, more than one fungicide application may be required for complete control.  Combatting anthracnose can be a timely and unpleasant weekend task.

Helpful Tips – Never prune an oak tree between the months of April and June because this will help to spread the disease.

How can Natural Way help? Prevention is the key in controlling anthracnose. We will provide critically timed trunk injections to the landscape that will help control anthracnose, extend the life of the landscape and minimize overall damage.

Whatever you decide, the longer your landscape is left untreated, the greater the chance the affected trees and shrubs will undergo unrecoverable damage. Your landscape represents a growing investment worth protecting.