Almost everything is very stunted

[ATH]

I'm honestly at a loss here...

My first inclination was herbicide. However, there are adjacent plants not impacted so the pattern doesn't fit. They had True Green treating plants last year, but doesn't think they would have sprayed the larger maple. I suggested he request all treatment records for his property.

There was a "gentle" frost about 4 weeks ago.but no other properties look like this.

Looked for aphids, didn't find any evidence. They can cause some weird leaf growth patterns.

We did just end 3 weeks of no rain (spring record for here), but, again, these symptoms aren't widespread across the landscape, just on this property.

I've read about a stunt nematode last year when looking at similar diversity of problems on another property. Maybe?? But I haven't every looked at plants where somebody said "yes, this is stunt nematode damage" - just pictures.

Several plants look like they tried to sprout leaves, but never finished.

Impacted:
Lilac
Weigela
euonymus
Rose
Japanese maple
Maple (no serations on the leaves, so Sugar/...but maybe that is deformed leaves, otherwise I would have said its a freemanii)

Less impact on:
Weeping cherry
Sumac
Barberry

Nearby plants (same property) not visibly impacted.:
Redbud (notable, because it seems very sensitive to herbicide damage most of the time)
River birch
Willow
Linden
Serviceberry
viburnum
Linden


There are also several boxwoods and taxus that have not put on a flush of growth, but otherwise look healthy. They should have grown by now...

So with all of that, here are some pics:


Lilac

Lilac in the middle, viburnum (looks perfect) on the right. Tree to left is the weeping cherry that looks OK, but has deformed leaves:

Here's that cherry:



Maple


Leaves from same tree (where there were some anyhow...)



Lilac



Japanese maple




Looking for any thoughts as I don't have any good answers. Help me think through "but other adjacent plants look like this too?" Or "why are the neighbor's plants OK?"

 

[Shadowscape]

Do they get along with their neighbors? Almost looks like they were sprayed with a herbicide prior to leafing out.

 

[ATH]

Do they get along with their neighbors? Almost looks like they were sprayed with a herbicide prior to leafing out.

How would they hit that Japanese maple and not the arborvitae behind them? (2, 4-D or dicamba could have that impact....but they are not pre-emergents that I'm aware of).

The perennials below the maple look good.

Some of the leaves on the weeping cherry are alright, but others are stunted...

My first thought was also herbicide, but can't convince myself.

 

[Reach]

That looks a lot like dicamba damage to me - remember, dicamba is often an ester formulation, so it can travel quite a distance through the air, especially with a temperature inversion. Are there any fields/golf courses nearby that could have treated while leaves were starting to emerge?

 

[Serf Life]

Something in the mulch??

 

[ATH]

Fields all over around here. But why wouldn't the redbud show anything? It's one of the more sensitive to dicamba from what I've seen at other properties. We've seen plenty of that volatilization damage the last couple of years...

Could be mulch...I may have to go look around at that more.

 

[oldoakman]

I have had a similiar situation this past week. I suspect Ranger Pro concentrate. Label haS glysophate and imazapyr as active ingredients. Imazapyr will produce that effect and kill non target woody plants.

 

[Birdyman88]

I'm sure the answer is probably herbicide, but I just wanted to comment quickly about something I was told. The nursery director at the place I buy stock from was telling me last week about a new variation of anthracnose that's supposedly out there. I didn't get all the details because they were closing for the day, but the symptoms, as he described them, could potentially result in something similar to what you're seeing. In his words, the leaves begin to expand like normal, then they just halt, making it look like some sort of stunted growth. In some cases the leaves begin to decline.

The conversation started because I was telling him about a redbud that had been root pruned last year and transplanted in late January. The buds broke right on schedule and the leaves began to expand like normal, then bam, they just halted at about 1/3-1/2 diameter, and they are now in decline. All the basic checks on this planting has been investigated, and nothing abnormal has been found. We just figured it was a finicky redbud. All the plants around this tree are doing fine, though I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from that. Supposedly, this guy has seen something very similar on a tree locally that was sold by his nursery last year and he made some calls and was told about the new variation. We have had a very wet spring and I have been running across many anthracnose infected trees this year. Just thought I'd throw that out there for what it's worth.

 

[ATH]

Thanks @Birdyman88

Anything is on the table. I probably should send samples to OSU and request that they check for any anthracnose.