On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:45:56 -0500, Rusty Mase
wrote:

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 16:08:28 GMT,
(Babberney) wrote:

Considering the recent moisture we've had, might also be anthracnose.
To be safe, collect and dispose of leaves to reduce incidence next
year.

What does this look like? I have a Lacey Oak that has developed some
sort of truck fungus (?) that has grotesquely distorted the trunk and
the tree is going to die. It started with a rust-like appearance on
the leaves (I think) several years ago.

Rusty Mase
Depends on the tree. Diff species are affected by diff fungi.
Generally, dying inward from the margins. A tree would have to be
pretty severely stressed by other factors to be killed by anthracnose,
if I understand things correctly.

Why do you say your tree is going to die? And how sure are you that
the distorted trunk is related?

Is is possible that the distortion resulted from a guy wire being left
on the tree? If girdled, a trunk will often swell and try to grow
around the obstruction. At the same time, the tree's ability to get
water and nutrients from the roots to the crown would be compromised,
so decline is likely.

You might be surprised by your ability to diagnose this problem by a
google search (species name--latin better--and obvious symptoms).
Plenty of lists out there that describe common species and the most
likely problems they'll encounter.

good luck,
Keith
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