With all the rain we had in the late spring/early summer, my live oaks have
gone bananas, putting on all kinds of new growth. However, with this hot
spell we got last week, all of a sudden I started noticing something strange
on a few of them.

The leaves are starting to turn brown. This seemed like it happened almost
overnight. About half the leaves on an afflicted tree are browning, but I
suspect they will all end up turning brown and falling off before it's all
said and done.

Closer inspection shows black spots on the leaves... on the green ones even
before they start turning brown. My guess is it's some kind of mold or
fungus related to the extra wet conditions. Here are a couple photos:

http://www.employees.org/~harper/leaves/P8160009.JPG
http://www.employees.org/~harper/leaves/P8160011.JPG

Is this anything to be concerned about? If so, is there anything that can be
done to stop it?

On a related note, I have a few end tips of branches that are turning brown as
well. But they don't have the black spots on them. When you look at them,
the branch looks like it has been damaged, enough so to kill it off. It
almost looks to me like it got so much water that it grew to fast and ruptured
itself. I suppose it could be birds or squirrels doing the damage though.
These are few and far between, so I'm not too concerned about them... mostly
just curious. Here's a picture of one of these:

http://www.employees.org/~harper/leaves/P8160012.JPG


scott