Leaf close-up photo

where are you???

i am not great on ID.. but wonder is this is fire blight on crabapple ... [it has other names also] ...

since leaves would fall off soon anyway .... there is nothing to do..

but in fairness to new owner... get rid of it .... obviously its a susceptible variety ....

ken

I'm in Sanford, North Carolina. As you can tell by the surrounding trees, we still have some time here before leaves start falling! I can cut it, but I'd hate to if that's not what the problem is...

if it is a leaf disease...

and the tree has no leaves.. then what exactly can be recommended to get rid of a leaf disease ...

i will bet.. within a week.. you will have a leafless tree ... [which you basically have right now]

regardless.. i didnt expect you to run out there and chainsaw it.. lets see if i am confirmed.. or denied ...

ken

The saying is...spots and dots, it's fungus you gots. Trees can usually recover from losing their leaves this late in the season. The time to spray fungicides is next spring and that is probably not necessary anyway. Some years are worse than others. I would just leave it alone.

Totally agree with kimpa......
Trees are very tolerant and survive seasonal leaf fungus attacks

Ok, GREAT! With the dying bushes and now this, I was terrified it was some disease that was killing all of our landscaping. But it's sounding like this tree is an isolated situation from the bushes. Thanks so much! I'll let it go and hope it doesn't scare off potential buyers. I really do think it's a beautiful tree, even if it's been kind of sickly over the years. :)

Looking at the crotch of that tree would be enough to make me want to take it down. It's bound to split and come down on its own, either from wind or winter weather. I also don't think it looks anything like a crabapple.The disease is definitely fungal, but it might not be the primary disease. In any case, it will be a high maintenance tree if you keep it.

I also agree with kimpa; it looks like a fungus of some sort. It looks like blackspot ... is that a hawthorn tree perhaps? (Hawthorn is in the rose family).

Many plant disease are pretty species-specific, so not likely to take out an entire landscape ... unless everything therein is of the same species. That's one reason why diversity of plantings, vs. a monoculture, is a good idea.

If the crotch of the tree is more "U" shaped, then no problem of it splitting in a wind....if "V" shaped, it may be a problem, but I wouldn't jump at cutting it down.....thousands of trees have V crotches with no problems................

I would suggest you remove the vine before it chokes the tree.