I have a very old american elm in my back yard with a dripline of at least 110 ft...needless to say, I would hate to lose this tree.

near the end of June, it started dropping leaves, and I see small brown spots on most of the leaves on the tree. These leaves then yellow, and drop.

Can anyone identify the possible culprit...and any solutions?

Thanks!!!!!

Not sure from just that info...

Can you think of anything different for its environment this year as opposed to previous years? Change in yard grade? More/less water? Fertilizer?

_________________
Shepherd of the Trees
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields we know so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.

there has been no change in anything at all from previous years...i have noticed this occur the last 2 years, but it has been much later in the season...late august/september...

one more thing...the spots on the leaves look very similar to those posted by rhamm1320 on 6/24...hope this helps!!!

Those earlier pictures are too hard to see -- would be nice if you can post your own.

That being said, I have a huge Amer. elm that is about 65 years old and likely nearly as big as yours. Although it is not happening this year, last year I had that issue after we had a boatload of rain -- just like we had in many areas this June. Amer. Elms do not like huge amounts of water.

I was primarily losing inner leaves from inside the canopy -- not outer leaves or top leaves with full sun exposure. A lot of them were pale green and a lot of them were pale yellow. Both had speckled brown spots on them. They were dropping everywhere and I was REALLY torn up! Does that sound like you?

I consulted with 2 nurseries and they both thought it was too much moisture and not enough sun. Regardless, I applied the sick tree treatment to my whole grass area within the dripline. That basically meant my whole front & side yard, and part of my neighbor's yard - lucky him! I also followed that with Garret Juice, in a hose end sprayer, the lower limbs and all the trunk that I could reach.

Now, the final thing I did -- and I'm convinced it's why I have not had a problem with this year's deluge -- is I had the tree pruned & thinned out in late Sept, which is the best time to avoid "introducing" stress so that Dutch Elm disease can take hold. The elm bark beetles are not so much a threat then, IF they happen to be around somewhere. Just make sure that your tree guy wipes his saws in bleach first, to avoid transfer of parasites, etc. -- and have some available because a lot do not have it.

Doing this let more sunlight through and it also lessened chances of branches breaking in storms -- the wind has a way to pass through better.

I would give that a shot, and if you are worried, take a good collection of leaves to North Haven Gardens and see what they think.

_________________
...Bill