249 Highland Avenue

Rochester, NY 14620­3036
p. 585.461.1000
f.  585.442.7577
monroe@cornell.edu
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/monroe

Anthracnose Disease of Shade Trees

Leaves of maple, ash, sycamore, plane tree, beech, birch, white oak, elm, horse chestnut, walnut, and to a lesser extent
many other tree species may be affected by the fungal disease anthracnose. Infection occurs during cool, wet weather
in the spring, as leaves are expanding. Expanding shoots, flowers and fruit may also be infected.

Symptoms: Anthracnose typically causes irregular, brown-black blotches on affected leaves. Blotches often follow the
leaf veins, and may blight the entire leaf. Severely affected leaves may fall from the tree. If weather conditions are
particularly favorable for infection, the tree may be defoliated. Expanding shoots may be directly infected by fungal
spores, but more often shoot infections occur when leaf infections spread down the petiole. If a shoot is girdled by an
infection, growth beyond the girdling wilts and dies.

Cause: Fungi of the genus Discula and several related species are responsible for anthracnose disease. These fungi
overwinter on dead infected leaves on the ground, and to a lesser extent on infected twigs on the tree. In early spring
they sporulate, leading to new infections while the weather is cool and moist. Spores can then be produced on the
newly infected tissue and spread to further leaves, shoots and even from tree to tree. Once weather conditions change
in late spring and early summer, the disease is halted.

Impact: Trees that are significantly defoliated due to anthracnose will put on a second flush of growth as the season
progresses. Anthracnose rarely affects the second set of leaves because the weather is no longer favorable for infection.
Even when trees are defoliated on an annual basis anthracnose infection rarely has a negative impact on the overall
health of the tree.

Control: Since this disease ceases as the weather becomes warmer and drier, in most cases there is no need for control.
Removal and discarding (or composting) of fallen leaves helps to reduce the infection potential for the following year.
Fungicides are not recommended for homeowner application for anthracnose because the disease does not affect the
overall health of the tree. Also, once symptoms become obvious it is already too late to treat. Without special spray
equipment it is difficult to effectively spray tree foliage.

If the disease is a persistent problem and the tree is in a prominent site in the landscape so that the symptoms are
aesthetically unacceptable, a fungicide spray program may be initiated at budbreak. For large trees, a tree-care
professional should be consulted. If you choose to treat a smaller tree, the following chemicals are registered for
homeowner use on the following hosts; apply according to label directions.
London plane, Sycamore (Platanus): chlorothalonil, copper, flutalonil, mancozeb, Basicop, Kop-R-Spray, Liquid
Copper Fungicide, or Camelot

Maple (Acer): flutalonil, mancozeb, Dexol Bordeaux, Basicop, or Camelot

Oak (Quercus): chlorothalonil, copper, flutalonil, Dexol Bordeaux, Basicop, Kop-R-Spray, Liquid Copper Fungicide
or copper salts of fatty & rosin acids

Revised 4/29/96, 5/03, 3/04, 6/07

FS 2401

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