Almost all the trees around our property have nasty round brown or black
fungus-y spots on the leaves, no matter what the species. Is this just
because we have had a very wet year?

Will the trees be fine in the spring when they put out new leaves or are my
trees in the kind of trouble that requires expensive treatments.

These trees are from patches of woods surrounding a country property, not
planted specimen trees.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 5 years. Below goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.7 .
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Jenny's new site: What they Don't Tell You About Diabetes
http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/

Jenny's Low Carb Diet Facts & Figures
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Almost all the trees around our property have nasty round brown or black
fungus-y spots on the leaves, no matter what the species. Is this just
because we have had a very wet year?

Will the trees be fine in the spring when they put out new leaves or are
my
trees in the kind of trouble that requires expensive treatments.

These trees are from patches of woods surrounding a country property, not
planted specimen trees.

You left out some information, like where (in the world) you live and how
long you've lived on that particular property. If you have access to that
info, it would add greatly to the ability to provide answers.

Doug,

I live in Western MA, Zone 5. The house was only built about a year and a
half ago.

-- You left out some information, like where (in the world) you live and
how
long you've lived on that particular property. If you have access to that
info, it would add greatly to the ability to provide answers.

Jenny, you didn't mention what kinds of trees you have, but I had the same
problem with my sycamore and dogwood during some years. When my ex-wife and
I were young and gullible, we paid some "expert" to stick these little
plastic injection things into the trees. I don't recall what time of year it
was. The trees looked better the following year, but we hadn't had a very
wet spring or summer, either, so there's no reliable way to say what the
improvement was due to. As we read more and became better gardeners, we
began to notice trends. In years when the trees had ugly leaves, we also had
more problems with our cucumbers, for instance. But, when we looked at
pictures of the property taken when we first moved in, it was obvious that
the trees had done fine.

By the way, the tree expert predicted that the dogwood would be dead within
a couple of years if it wasn't medicated. A little reading about dogwood
habitat indicated that the original homeowner had planted the tree in a dumb
place: Two feet from a blacktop driveway. Nice and hot - not where a dogwood
belongs. We decided THAT was the tree's biggest problem, not the occasional
fungus attacks. Matter of fact, when we made it a habit to soak the ground
around the tree during hot weather, it looked much better. It's still alive.

I think you have to look at the overall health of the trees, and sort of
take an average. I'd also contact a local cooperative extension and see if
they have any thoughts on what's going on in your area. While it *is*
possible there's something going around that can be treated, you want to
find out if it's worthwhile first, preferably from someone who doesn't have
anything to sell. And, of course, you never want to spray poison around your
property unless there's no other choice.


"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Doug,

I live in Western MA, Zone 5. The house was only built about a year and a
half ago.

-- You left out some information, like where (in the world) you live and
how
long you've lived on that particular property. If you have access to
that
info, it would add greatly to the ability to provide answers.

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 05:35:46 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
in rec.gardens wrote:

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Almost all the trees around our property have nasty round brown or black
fungus-y spots on the leaves, no matter what the species. Is this just
because we have had a very wet year?

Will the trees be fine in the spring when they put out new leaves or are
my
trees in the kind of trouble that requires expensive treatments.

These trees are from patches of woods surrounding a country property, not
planted specimen trees.

You left out some information, like where (in the world) you live and how
long you've lived on that particular property. If you have access to that
info, it would add greatly to the ability to provide answers.


If you have a county extension agent, he/she will most likely accept a
sample of the problem and identify it. Are the leaves crisping black on the
edges along wiht the spots?


FACE

More than likely you have a bunch of maples on your property line and they all
have tar spot, or a combination of tar spot and powdery mildew. If this is the
case, they will be fine.

Toad

I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never heard
anything about one and I read everything local. I also think I read that the
ag school at UMASS doesn't do soil tests anymore.

The edges are fine. It's just splotches. And, yes, lots of maples are
affected, particularly saplings in the wetter part of the property. But I
also have seen splotches on a bunch of what I think are black birches and
chestnut saplings and a couple of other things I haven't figured out what
they are.

I'm going to hope for the best, since there are far too many trees to go
squirting them. I did the same thing Doug described with a bunch of trees at
a house I owned in a suburb years ago. I got talked into a very expensive
oil treatment that supposedly was all that could keep my 40 foot blue
spruces from immediate death. I drove by that house a few years ago. The
folks who bought the house from me sixteen years before had let it
deteriorate into a no-maintenance slum, but it still had gorgeous tall blue
spruces all around. Either that was one powerful treatment I paid for, or
the trees were just fine. g

--Jenny.

"FACE" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 05:35:46 GMT, "Doug Kanter"

in rec.gardens wrote:

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Almost all the trees around our property have nasty round brown or
black
fungus-y spots on the leaves, no matter what the species. Is this just
because we have had a very wet year?

Will the trees be fine in the spring when they put out new leaves or
are
my
trees in the kind of trouble that requires expensive treatments.

These trees are from patches of woods surrounding a country property,
not
planted specimen trees.

You left out some information, like where (in the world) you live and how
long you've lived on that particular property. If you have access to that
info, it would add greatly to the ability to provide answers.


If you have a county extension agent, he/she will most likely accept a
sample of the problem and identify it. Are the leaves crisping black on
the
edges along wiht the spots?


FACE

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never heard
anything about one and I read everything local. I also think I read that
the
ag school at UMASS doesn't do soil tests anymore.

Find a farm. Ask the farmer where HE would go for advice if he saw strange
things happening to his crops.

I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never heard
anything about one and I read everything local.

This site lists the extension offices by county:
http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties/county.htm
sed5555

Sed,

The site you pointed to was for Maine. I'm in MAssachusetts.

Maine is ME.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 5 years. Below goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.7 .
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Jenny's new site: What they Don't Tell You About Diabetes
http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/

Jenny's Low Carb Diet Facts & Figures
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm


"Sed5555" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never
heard
anything about one and I read everything local.

This site lists the extension offices by county:
http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties/county.htm
sed5555

Jenny! Does Massachusetts require a permit to do a web search? :-) :-)

First hit from google:
http://www.umass.edu/agland/

Call them if you don't find the info you need on the site.

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Sed,

The site you pointed to was for Maine. I'm in MAssachusetts.

Maine is ME.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 5 years. Below goal for weight. Type 2
diabetes,
hba1c 5.7 .
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Jenny's new site: What they Don't Tell You About Diabetes
http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/

Jenny's Low Carb Diet Facts & Figures
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm


"Sed5555" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never
heard
anything about one and I read everything local.

This site lists the extension offices by county:
http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties/county.htm
sed5555

"Jenny" wrote in message ...
Almost all the trees around our property have nasty round brown or black
fungus-y spots on the leaves, no matter what the species. Is this just
because we have had a very wet year?

Will the trees be fine in the spring when they put out new leaves or are my
trees in the kind of trouble that requires expensive treatments.

These trees are from patches of woods surrounding a country property, not
planted specimen trees.
Leaf spot diseases such as anthracnose and tarry spot are quite common
on trees in the northeast after a wet spring. They don't look good but
usually do no real harm. While they could be prevented by repeat
applications of fungicides there is really no point to it unless you
were trying to present unblemished nursery stock to customers.
Next year if we have a wet spring it will happen again.
Find your cooperative extension office and ask em to mail you a
leaflet on it.
Or do a litle web searching on the .edu sites that cooperative
extensions sponsor.
The UCONN one is pretty good.

(Sed5555) wrote in message ...
I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never heard
anything about one and I read everything local.

This site lists the extension offices by county:
http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties/county.htm
sed5555

As a result of the land grant colleges and in cooperation with the
USDA there are extension offices in every county of every state.
Something Lincoln came up with. If you look in the govt pages of your
phone book it is likely you will find yours.

From the web page you cited:

"Details about the various diagnostic services offered by UMass Extension
can be found below. Please note that the majority of the services listed
(with the exception of soil testing) are for professional use only, and are
not available directly to the homeowner."

Hmmm. I could have sworn that they discontinued the soil testing too. The
one online link I followed for ordering it is coming up dead.

The local Master Gardener folks do soil testing at the local Farmer's
market. That's where I got mine tested.

-- Jenny

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
Jenny! Does Massachusetts require a permit to do a web search? :-) :-)

First hit from google:
http://www.umass.edu/agland/

Call them if you don't find the info you need on the site.

"Jenny" wrote in message
...
Sed,

The site you pointed to was for Maine. I'm in MAssachusetts.

Maine is ME.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 5 years. Below goal for weight. Type 2
diabetes,
hba1c 5.7 .
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Jenny's new site: What they Don't Tell You About Diabetes
http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/

Jenny's Low Carb Diet Facts & Figures
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm


"Sed5555" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never
heard
anything about one and I read everything local.

This site lists the extension offices by county:
http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties/county.htm
sed5555

Thanks for the info. I am going to go on the assumption that the trees are
going to be fine. My whole property is a mushroom hunter's delight this
fall, so it's pretty clear why we'd have a problem caused by too much
moisture.

OTOH, the good news is that as wet as it has been, our basement has stayed
dry, which is one of the things you wonder about with a new house.

I have visited the UCONN site, they have a wonderful shrub database which I
used to help decide what kinds of shrubs might survive in our yard.
-- Jenny


"Beecrofter" wrote in message
om...
(Sed5555) wrote in message
...
I'm not sure we have county extension agents here in MA. I've never
heard
anything about one and I read everything local.

This site lists the extension offices by county:
http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties/county.htm
sed5555

As a result of the land grant colleges and in cooperation with the
USDA there are extension offices in every county of every state.
Something Lincoln came up with. If you look in the govt pages of your
phone book it is likely you will find yours.