dragonshade1

Hi everyone, I am new to bonsai, and will be getting a couple to begn my new hobby. My problem is this - Around my home (suburbs of Atlanta, GA) I have 3 Red maple trees. The trees are about 20 years old and good size. Every summer the leaves get black spots on them. This never defoliates the trees at all, but eventually the black spots become small holes. You wouldn't really notice this until you looked closely at the leaves. After talking to some tree people I have heard that this is a fungus, and supposedly in maples, esp. red maples, this is very common. Now there are many trees I mean A LOT all around the house/property so I am sure if this is true there are huge amounts of spores everywhere, in other words...impossible to get rid of. The maples are doing great though, otherwise healthy and between 30-45' tall now (after 20 years). Over the last couple years I have planted some Oaks, and Japanese Maples. This year I saw the black spots on both my Nutall Oak, and Red Oak that I planted, but not on the Japanese Maples, or my Live oak. The location cannot be a factor. My concern is if I get my bonsais that they will also contract this, as their best location would be under the largest of these effected Red Maples, but even if I pick another spot the spores would still be everywhere. I do not know what to do. I really don't see any way to treat with a fungicide of anykind, because there are so many trees around, and I cannot feasibly treat the entire neighborhood. Any ideas would be great.
Thanks

Advertisement