Your trees and shrubs are fantastic additions to your landscape, so you'll want them to remain in tip-top health year-round. However, there are various diseases that can weaken your plants. In Indianapolis, IN, 3 diseases that you need to watch out for include cedar apple rust, pine tip blight, and anthracnose. These diseases can damage the health and appearance of your trees and shrubs, but you can combat these diseases with fungicide treatments. Keep reading to learn more about these tree and shrub diseases!

1. Cedar Apple Rust

A tree branch with cedar apple rust tree disease in Indianapolis, IN.

Cedar apple rust is a tree disease that affects red cedar and apple trees. This disease is a fungal infection caused by Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae, which produces spores every spring that become airborne. Red cedar and apple trees planted close to each other are vulnerable to cedar apple rust.

Because this disease affects two different types of trees, it also has different symptoms depending on the tree.

  • Red cedar trees are first affected by the disease during summer. In June of the following summer season, infected cedar trees will begin to show greenish-brown growth or galls on the upper to the inner part of leaves. These galls will then develop orange telial horns in the next spring when the weather is moist.
  • For apple trees, cedar apple rust presents itself as greenish-yellow spots that eventually become larger. These spots will slowly turn orange-yellow and develop a reddish margin. The upper surface of apple leaves will also have black, fruiting structures, while the underside will have lesions with hair-like growth.

The best way to treat cedar apple rust is by preventing the disease from happening, which can be done through top-quality tree and shrub disease control treatments.

2. Pine Tip Blight

A tree overcome by pine tip blight up close near Greenfield, IN and nearby communities.

Pine trees are majestic trees that add a charming aesthetic to your property. However, these trees are susceptible to pine tip blight disease. This disease is also known as Diplodia tip blight and is caused by the fungus Sphaeropsis sapinea, which commonly affects pine trees in Indianapolis, IN, like Austrian pines, Scots pines, ponderosa pines, and many more.

If your pine trees seem to have stopped growing and the lower branches of the new shoots are becoming brown, your trees could be infected with pine tip blight. As this disease worsens, affected branches, cones, needles, and bark will have black growth that produces spores. To keep your pine trees safe from this damaging tree disease, it's best to schedule tree and shrub disease control treatments!

3. Anthracnose

A leaf with anthracnose tree disease taking over near Fishers, IN.

The cool and moist environment during spring is often a good sign for many trees and shrubs to start growing again. However, it also means favorable conditions for anthracnose disease. To check if your plant is affected by this disease, check the lower branches of your trees or shrubs. Anthracnose results in the browning of leaves, which will eventually curl and fall off your trees or shrubs. A professional fungicide treatment will help eradicate this disease from your plants!

Keep your trees and shrubs healthy with our tree and shrub disease control treatments. Call us today to sign up!

Even healthy trees and shrubs can get affected by diseases. Don't fret! Here at Green Again Lawn, we provide effective tree and shrub disease and insect control treatments that will protect your trees and shrubs from damage-causing diseases like cedar apple rust, pine tip blight, and anthracnose and insects like Japanese beetles and bagworms. We offer this service to commercial, residential, and HOA properties in Indianapolis, Greenfield, Fishers, and Carmel, IN! Give us a call today at (317) 747-0146 to sign up for this service and we'll take care of keeping your trees and shrubs healthy!