Jeff Stachler, OSU Extensioneer in Auglaize County sent the following message this past Tuesday on June 6:
“A maple tree in the front of a home yard has leaves with the symptoms you see in the photos. Veins and leaf tips are black with yellow and brown colors below the black. Is there anything that can be done or should be done?” He also sent the tell-tale photo above, showing “water-soaked” darkish lesions along leaf veins.
Right on time. Last June 5, I took a picture of a neighbor’s red maple in Doyletown in northeast Ohio of the same problem: maple anthracnose. As noted then, homeowners do become quite concerned about this fungal disease in wet springs, worried that “all the leaves are fallin’” from a beloved maple tree. We are all familiar with this sky-is-falling observation, that in most cases turns out to be a bit overstated.