Ever wonder if you should call a Tree Service in Brookfield CT up for the Tree that doesn't look so good.  Chances are it your tree doesn't look right it can have a disease.  Here's a quick article written by the professionals at Brookfield Tree Service on How to Detect Diseases in Your Trees.

Trees are a beautiful part of landscaping, and one that may seem to naturally take care of themselves.  However, trees are susceptible to diseases like any other living part of nature.  Regular examination of your trees can help save them from succumbing to what diseases can do to them, including sometimes killing the tree altogether.  Examination is important because some diseases cannot be seen naturally, and the symptoms need to catch your attention instead.  The sooner you catch disease in your trees, the better chance the tree has of recovering.

Below are a few of the diseases to watch for, along with their symptoms.

Powdery Mildew

As its name suggests, Powdery Mildew is a white fungus.  It is made up of millions of tiny spores and steals nutrients from your trees.  The wind can carry the spores which causes more infections.  While this particular disease doesn’t kill your tree, ignoring it will cause it to spread.

When Powdery Mildew infects your tree, it causes the leaves to turn brown.  They dry out and fall prematurely.  Although most trees survive this disease without too much damage, fruit trees are the exception.  This disease will affect the production on apple, nectarine and other fruit trees, attacking the buds, shoots and flowers.  The disease leaves a web-like mark on young fruit.

Anthracnose

Anthracnose is a disease that is more common in the eastern part of the United States.  The fungi of this disease cause lesions and dead spots on leaves.

Leaving this disease untreated will weaken your trees and cause it to become weaker, opening it up to other problems.

Fire Blight

Fire Blight is a bacterial infection that affects apple and pear trees.  Under perfect circumstances, this infection can ruin an entire orchard in one season.  The base of twigs will become water soaked, followed by being sunken and dry.  While the fruit and leaves will wither and die, they will remain attached to the branch.

Fire Blight spreads rapidly in moist, warm weather.  It is also carried from plant to plant by insects, dew, and gardening tools.  Not tending to this disease can cause enough damage that the tree needs removed.

Oak Wilt

As the name implies, Oak Wilt is a disease that affects different types of oak trees. Interconnect roots is one way that the disease spreads, and sap-eating beetles that carry the disease from an infected tree to a healthier tree is another way.

Some of the symptoms are leaves that have turned a bronze color in the summer, instead of remaining green like the trees around it.  One of the most noticeable symptoms on the tree is the veins on the leaves.  They begin to yellow and then turn brown.  Another leaf symptom that you may see is when the vein of the leaf is a darker green than the rest of the leaf.

Oak Wilt is a disease than can kill your tree very quickly.  For red oaks, it can happen in as short as four to six weeks. Other oak trees may deteriorate for a two of three years before dying.  Regardless, this is a disease you should not ignore.