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Newbie needs help with diseased tree

StartingOutStartingOut Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Hello and great to be on here, new to the garden world but just got my first house and getting into it, had the garden and patio done recently after a 3 year house project and every year I have a lovely tree in my garden that dies off with a disease. I went to the garden centre in the winter for advice to be told to fertilise the soil around it with fish blood and bone to NO avail.

Can anyone help and point me in the right direction, any elp much appreciated, thank you.

Posts

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    Might be a Quince Tree, Cydonia Oblonga. They can be prone to leaf blight. Usually caused by damp and wet conditions in the warmer months. Make sure you regularly rake away dead and fallen leaves from under the tree to avoid re-infection. Check for diseased and dead branches and prune them away too.
  • StartingOutStartingOut Posts: 4
    Think your right doing some research on Quince trees. And leaf bright seems to be the culprit. Online it says to prune the dead leaves off and use fungicide but think it may be too far gone to treat now.
  • StartingOutStartingOut Posts: 4
    Hello all, regarding this issue with leaf bright on my Quince tree, is there anything I can do before or during the leaves budding to stop this happening this year?
  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    Keep the soil under your plant clear--remove and burn fallen leaves, and you could try putting a mulch over the ground annually to prevent the spores from rising up and reinfecting the tree again this season. Quote the RHS: 'The fungus overwinters on dead twigs and on fallen leaves, and spores produced on these start new infections in the spring. Once the first leaf spots have formed, fruiting bodies develop within them, and the spores that they produce are splashed in rain droplets to create further infections on the leaves, shoot tips and fruit. The disease is therefore most severe during wet summers.' They also recommend good feeding.

    Like black spot on roses, it doesn't linger in the plant but in its environment.
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    edited February 2021
    I agree with Cambridgerose12's post. I hope you kept on top of raking all dead leaves that had fallen under the tree over the autumn-winter time. Check on the branches for signs of die-back. You will notice the wood looks brittle and dry when there is no wet weather. Prune these branches/tips out now.

    Keep the base of trunk clear with no grass or weeds. To help it along, lay a very generous layer of mulch like well-rotted manure or compost. Sometimes, leaf blight can be just weather related. With crowded branches and high rain-fall, especially during the summer, these conditions help to spread it even more. 

    A healthy and happy tree will more likely cope with this, so the main priority is to ensure your tree is not suffering in excessive dry weather. You may need to water it over the summer months.
  • StartingOutStartingOut Posts: 4
    Thanks for the replies, I will give it a go!
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