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Sweet Gum Ball Trees


Question
QUESTION: Tree suddenly stated getting braches where the leaves just die but the branch is okay.  What could be causing this.

ANSWER: Hi there. Sorry but I don't understand the question. Could you check your spelling and reword it. Thanks,Bill

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry, the tree is overall very healthly.  But has several branches that are still attached to the tree and are healthly.  On these branches all the leaves are died.  Could this be caused by a disease or what?

Answer
Hi there. This is a tough one. I will give you a couple possibilities. You will probably have to send a sample to your local Ag dept. or college for analysis.

#1.Botryosphaeria Canker

The fungus Botryosphaeria can cause a branch dieback on horsechestnut, redbud, dogwood, beech, walnut, tulip poplar, sweetgum, crabapple, pine, oak, rhododendron, azalea, rose, willow, elm, yew, and many other woody ornamentals. Cankers girdle and kill twigs and branches. Small black fungal fruiting structures that contain fungal spores develop in the canker.

Symptoms

   * Rough, sunken, dark-brown to black areas form around wounds or natural openings in the bark.
   * The wood and pith of the branch is blackened or turn dark brown.
   * Dead bark falls off the cankered area.
   * Leaves on affected branches wilt as affected branches die.
   * Cankers enlarge along the branch more quickly than around its circumference.

Botryosphaeria enters natural openings in the bark, such as lenticels or through pruning cuts and other wounds. Plants most susceptible to the disease are wounded plants that are under drought stress. The fungus remains dormant in the wood during the winter. Spores are windblown from branch to branch in the spring as the fungus resumes activity.

Management

   * Prune affected branches late in dormancy before bud break. Destroy the infected tissue. Disinfest pruning tools between cuts by keeping them wet with 1 part household bleach:9 parts water for 10 minutes and rinsing or by dipping them in 70
alcohol and letting them air-dry.
   * Irrigate plants to prevent drought stress, especially during late summer and autumn.
   * Protect plants from wounding.

#2.Bacterial leaf scorch (BLS) affects many different shade tree species such as American elm, red maple, sweet gum, sycamore and London plane, and a number of species of oak The disease has been identified in the urban forest (landscapes, street plantings, and small woodlots) throughout the eastern United States and as far west as Texas. BLS is one of a group of diseases caused by Xylella fastidiosa. This bacterial pathogen is distributed throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Symptoms include leaves changing color and dropping from trees and branch die back.
I know this is kind of lengthy but it might give you a place to start.

Hope it helps some,Bill

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