Looks like anthracnose from here.

Dan

Damn, should I take the tree back? Its got the 1 year thing going on.

I wanna take a shot!

In my under educated opinion the cause is leaf scorch.

1. the picture matches this from the Clemson website.
2. the tree is a new transplant and that is always hard on a root system.
3. Georgia is hot to begin with and it has been hot there.
4. it is a dogwood in full sun.

What do you guys think and Dan, you have looked at way more of these than I have. What should I have noticed?

Here is a link that might be useful: Clemson page with alot of Cornus Florida pics

Got to disagree with Dan here. Looks like water stress to me. Full sun, zone 8-9 and just planted with 100 degree temps = water stress even when taken care of. If you've had wind, it will be even worse. Will take a few years before roots expand enough to prevent from happening, and as mentioned in other threads, dogwoods have been slow to establish in my experience. Plus the one in shade it fine. In the open with good air circulation, anthracnose is much less of a problem. It much more likely to be a problem on a shaded tree, and moisture is slower to dry on the leaf surface. Powdery mildew is a different story, but not Disculla.

Just keep watering, and finger check the rootball for moisture. Probable can't avoid a bit of burn the first year.

Good luck,
Arktrees

I missed the 'planted a month earlier'. I can go with water stress too. That yellowing is characteristic of early anthracnose & focused on that, & now looks like tip burn & stress. Good mulch ring might help too. Too much going on, apologies (as he writes on a discussion board...).

Dan

in your zone.. in your heat.. a late transplant probably should have been provided temporary shade ...

i would call it transplant shock ... planting interfered with its ability to overcome the transplant ... it could not pump the water.. to save the leaves..

i dont understand the term 'water stress' .. unless you mean a 'lack of water' stress.. rather than a 'too much water' stress ...

proper planting time.. in your z8.. was probably around feb if not earlier .. it should be no surprise that a may planting results is shock ...

if you keep it deeply watered.. and the roots survive.. there is no reason for it not to succeed ... its just not going to be pretty this year ...

to jump to disease is premature.. and to slather the damaged leaves with chems will NOT help it ... even a damaged ugly leave.. can synthesize sunlight and help the plant recover ... unless you burn it further with chems

keep the watering proper.. and relax... it will either be returned in late fall .. the next proper planting time ... or it will be just fine ...

i will defer to proper planting time in z8 ... should i be off there ...

note on your pic.. its all the top leaves.. and one shaded by those.. are not as affected ... its sunburn on leaves with too little water in the wrong temp range .. IMHO ...

frankly.. with the timing of your planting.. you should be happy it looks as good as it does.. lol ... the whole point of PROPER TIMING.. is that it has 6 to 8 to 10 weeks.. before that first 100 degree day ... plenty of time for the roots to acclimate ...

based on that rather poor pic.. you did fine ... dont kill it with too much love ....

live and learn .. its a shrub.. it will probably live ... you wont have the dogwood green thumb.. until you kill 3 of them .... lol ...

ken

thanks. I had no choice when to plant, first year in the new home, so been budget planting while it was cool. Just gonna have to keep an eye on it, and gain info as I go. if it crokes, just get another in the fall, hope it lives, would feel like a jerk if it died

Just took these pics, is it still looking like the heat?

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As bad as that looks it could be worse

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By jp_42_82 at 2011-06-05

It is now down to 4 leaves, half with the black and half healthy. I am going to burn it along with my dead yellowwood and southern catalpa when/if it dies before fall and spread the ashes to trees that give a d!@# around my house lol

To me (and I don't know much about dogwoods) it looks like more than heat scorch.