Anthracnose continues to worry homeowners. The amount of leaf drop due to anthracnose on ash has visibly increased. Infected sycamores look like they won’t survive the summer. The disease has begun to show on maples in central Illinois as well. Don’t panic. Just remove fallen leaves (to make you feel better) and keep the trees watered in periods of drought stress later in the summer. They will begin to look better in a few weeks.

Taphrina leaf blisters on oak have become quite visible this past week. Remember, the infection has been present since budbreak or soon after and there is nothing to do now. The blisters will turn yellow, then red, and eventually brown.

Although we have seen a few cases of crabapples and pears that seemed to have fire blight, samples have not confirmed that to be the case. We still have not had a confirmed case of fire blight at the clinic this season.