Ask an Expert

Question from Alex -

I have a tree question that I hope to get help on. I have two large trees in my yard. They seem to have fungal infection starting last year. This year it got particularly worse. One of the trees barely has leaves. I have been using anti-fungi spray called ferti-lome Liquid Systemic Fungicide II. It seemed to help last year and started to help this year. Besides doing this, what else can I do? I am worried that the tree may die this year.

Answer from Dr. Mike Kuhns, USU Extension Forester and Professor -

Alex,

Your tree is some sort of a sycamore or planetree (Platanus species). The disease is sycamore anthracnose and it is a fungus that attacks new leaves and twigs in the spring when the weather is cool and moist. Once the weather dries out and gets warm it goes away until next year. As far as I know systemic fungicides do not work for treating this disease, but spray application of fungicides like Bordeaux mixture works well. You normally don’t have to do it every year. Go to the USU fact sheet on anthracnose for details. Once the young leaves get infected by the fungus they fall off and the tree(s) put on a new set of leaves.